.vvv^v«<^v^>amii»a«mmTmTWW'vfVf'*riffr"'"~''''''*' Mv^^^^^^^aM>«^^^\^>^^^^^\vMM«^^^»Kvx\N^^^^ 


X!f'>;'i:ttrcfifr:v^i(^.v.::,'K: 


'mYmmmrm-MU'^r 


Our  Bisho 


A  SKETCH   OF 


THE  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH    OF  THE  CHURCH   OF   THE 
UNITED    BRETHREN    IN   CHRIST 


AS   SHOWN   IN   THK 


Lives  of  its  Distinguished  Leaders 


„.A^o.PSO«,D.D..LLa 


FOR  FOURTEEN  VEARS  PRESIDENT  OF  OTTERBEIN  UNIVERSITY;  DELEGATE  TO 
THK  METHODIST  CECUMENICAL  CONFERENCE  HELD  IN  LONDON  IN  1881;  COMMIS- 
SIONER OF  SCIENCE  AND  EDUCATION  AT  THE  OHIO  CENTENNIAL  IN  1888; 
AUTHOR   OF   "SCHOOLS   OF   THE   PROPHETS,"    "  POWER   OF  THE   INVISIBLE,"    ETC. 


WITH   AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

COLONEL    ROBERT    COWDEN 

Corresponding  Secretary  United  Brethren  Sabbath  School  Board 


UllustrateD  wltb  ©rigfnal  Bngravlngs 


The  most  interesting  books  to  me  are  the  histories  of  individuals  and 
individual  minds,  all  autobiographies  and  the  like.  This  is  my  favorite  reading. — 
Longfello-w. 


1889 

Elder  Publishing  Company 

CHICAGO 


COPYRIGHT  BT 
H.  A.  THOMPSON,  D.  D.,  Lli.  D. 

—  1889  

ALL  RIGHTS  RESBBVBD. 


Uo  /ID^  1bonore&  fatbcv 

Whose  toils  and  labors  in  this  life  secured  for  me  the 

advantages  of  a  higher  education  ; 

Whose  daily  example,  as  well  as  teaching,  was  an  inspiration  to 

plain  living  and  high  thinking  ; 

Who  taught  me  to  reverence  and  love  all 

things  pure  and  good  : 

Zo  /ll>^  SainteC)  /iDotber 

Who  first  took  me  by  the  hand  and   led  me  with  her  to 

the  house  of  the  Lord  ; 

Whose  highest  ambition  for  her  children  was  that  they  might  be 

the  children  of  the   Most  High  ; 

Who  died  in  hope  of  a  blessed  immortality; 

Whom  I  think  I  love  as  dearly  to-day  as  when  I  looked  into 

her  face  for  the  last  time  on  earth, 

eighteen  years  ago  ; 

XLo  ail  tbe  /iRembers  an&  jflBinisters  of  tbe 
TUnlteD  JSretbrcn  Cburcb 

Of  which  church  I  have  been  a  member  since  fourteen  years  of  age  ; 

For  whose  upbuilding 

I  have  faithfully  labored  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century ; 

and  above  all 

zro  Ibim 

"  Whose  I  am  and  whom  I  serve  "  ; 

Whose  promises  have  never  failed;  whose  mercy  endureth 

forever : 

THIS  VOLUME    IS   DEDICATED 

by  the 
AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


As  "  the  beginning  of  the  book  is  the  last  that  is  written,"  as  has 
been  facetiously  said,  it  only  remains  for  the  author  to  add  that  he 
will  not  soon  forget  the  effort  which,  when  a  boy,  he  put  forth  to 
know  something  of  the  honored  men  who  represented  the  church  of 
his  choice,  and  with  what  interest  he  read  whatever  was  written 
concerning  them.  He  found  little  written,  however.  The  church 
was  too  busy  in  making  history  to  spend  time  to  write  it.  Many 
men  had  kept  no  record  of  their  labors  save  what  an  uncertain 
memory  could  reproduce;  others  who  were  in  labors  most  abundant 
and  of  whom  records  should  have  been  kept,  were  men  whom  a  false 
delicacy  prevented  from  giving  to  the  world  such  an  insight  into 
their  lives  as  would  have  blessed  the  church. 

There  are  many  others  of  these  fathers  whose  faithful,  self- 
denying  labors  the  pen  of  the  historian  should  record  before  the 
waves  of  oblivion  have  rolled  over  them.  The  author  has  confined 
his  labors  to  those,  whom  the  church  by  her  highest  authority,  has 
called  from  the  ranks  and  placed  in  positions  of  honor  and  influence. 
The  means  of  information  at  his  command  were  limited,  but  he 
aimed  to  gather  what  was  accessible  from  living  men,  from  private 
diaries,  from  church  publications,  and  to  present  them  to  the  church 
as  his  space  would  allow. 

By  means  of  this  volume  he  has  hoped  to  inspire  in  the  member- 
ship of  the  church,  and  especially  the  younger  portion  of  it,  a  more 
intelligent  appreciation  of  all  that  the  fathers  have  done  for  us 
and  a  warmer  attachment  to  the  church,  which  has  grown  up  from 
their  labors.  He  is  not  without  hope  that  God's  leading  hand  may 
be  seen  in  the  lives  of  these  men,  and  that  we  may  have  the  confi- 
dent assurance  that  He  who  has  led  us  in  the  past  will  lead  us  along 
the  highway  of  the  future,  if  our  trust  is  in  Him. 


PREFACE. 

Where  there  seemed  to  be  a  conflict  of  statements  as  to  dates  and 
other  matters,  the  author  took  what  was,  in  his  judgment,  the  more 
probable.  The  expectation  was  to  have  given  the  book  to  the  pub- 
lic at  a  much  earlier  date,  but  his  connection  with  the  Ohio  Centen- 
nial as  commissioner  of  science  and  education  delayed  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  portion  of  the  manuscript. 

While  he  would  return  thanks  to  all  who  have  generously  aided 
him  in  the  preparation  of  this  work,  he  is  under  special  obligations 
to  the  following  persons,  which  he  desires  hereby  to  acknowledge: 
Col.  Robert  Cowden,  the  efficient  secretary  of  the  Sabbath  school 
Board;  Mrs.  A..  L.  Billheimer,  of  Birmingham,  Ala.;  Mr.  G.  P.  Hott, 
of  Dayton,  Va.;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  L.  Rike  and  Prof.  A.  W.  Drury, 
of  Dayton,  Ohio;  Dr.  A.  W  Jones  of  Westerville,  Ohio,  and  Prof. 
D.  Eberly,  of  Pennsylvania. 

With  the  hope  that  this  volume  may  advance  the  cause  of  the 
Master,  by  bringing  more  vividly  to  the  notice  of  those  in  as  well  as 
those  out  of  the  church  the  character  and  labors  of  those  who  have 
b33n  the  official  representatives  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  it  is 
submitted  to  the  kind  consideration  of  a  Christian  public. 

H.  A.  Thompson. 
Westkrville,  Ohio,  January  1,  1889. 


Il^TEODUCTIOK 


No  class  of  literature'  is  more  sLimuhiting  ana  healthful  trian  tne 
biographies  of  good  men  and  women.  The  vivid  portraiture  oT  the 
noble  and  good  who  have  lived  on  the  earth  is  always  an  inspiration 
to  those  who  come  after  to  try  and  imitate  them.  A  biography,  to 
be  faithful  and  full,  need  not  necessarily  be  lengthy.  Only  that 
which  peculiarly  distinguishes  a  man  from  his  fellows  should  be 
made  prominent.  The  ^■Jgraphies  of  the  Bible,  graphic  but  brief, 
have  furnished  the  firesides  of  thousands  of  earth's  humble  homes 
with  themes  for  stories  of  never  lessening  interest  as  well  to  the 
narrator  as  to  the  listening  youth.  The  righteousnej-s  of  Noah,  the 
faithfulness  of  Abraham,  the  faultlessness  of  Joseph,  the  meekness 
of  Moses,  the  poetry  and  song  of  Daniel,  the  wisdom  of  Solomon, 
the  wild  impetuousness  of  Elijah  and  his  triumphant  exit  from 
time,  the  fidelity  of  Daniel  and  the  Hebrew  children — what  admira- 
tion and  aspirations  their  reading  or  recital  has  kindled  in  human 
hearts.  Then  there  are  the  histories  of  the  early  and  later  Chris- 
tian martyrs.  Who  but  has  listened  to  or  read  with  wide-eyed  won- 
der the  stories  of  their  fidelity  to  the  Savior  and  their  tragic  deaths? 
And  how  our  hearts  were  thereby  made  to  burn  with  holy  zeal  for 
the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness!  A  study  of  the  lives  of  great 
military  chieftains,  such  as  Hannibal,  Alexander,  Julius  Ca'sar,  Na- 
poleon, Washington,  Grant,  Sherman  and  Sheridan,  tends  unfail- 
ingly to  fill  youthful  blood  with  martial  fervor  and  develop 
a  warlike  spirit.  The  examples  of  our  great  statesmen  have  tended 
to  the  development  of  a  nation  of  patriots.  Our  subject  becomes 
for  the  time  our  hero,  and  our  souls  are  drawn  toward  him  with  a 
longing  to  be  like  him.  The  heroes  of  the  present  century  being 
nearer  in  point  of  time  are  more  interesting  to  us  than  those  of  the 
remoter  past. 

The  grand  characters  of  the  Reformation,  and  later,  Luther, 
Melancthon,  Calvin,  the  two  Wesleys,  John  Knox  and  Otterbein  — 
who  shall  attempt  to  measure  the  overflowing  tide  of  influence  result- 
ing from  their  lives  ? 

Among  the  religious  denominations  of  the  last  one  hundred 
years  in  this  country,  none  are  more  interesting  in  their  rise  and 


INTRODUCTION. 

development  to  the  student  of  church  history,  nor  more  aggressive 
in  their  activities  to-day  than  the  church  of  tlie  United  Brethren  in 
Christ.  Taking  its  rise  as  it  did  in  a  great  religious  awakening  and 
revival  among  the  Germans  in  eastern  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland, 
and  without  any  intent  on  the  part  of  the  principal  actors  and  reviv- 
alists to  found  a  new  sect,  hundreds  and^then  thousands  of  newly 
awakened  and  converted  souls  were  naturally  drawn  together  for 
fellowship  and  counsel.  As  the  work  progressed  and  the  numbers 
increased,  the  bonds  strengthened  and  conferences  became  more 
general  and  more  frequent,  and  finally  periodical.  At  these  confer- 
ences the  one  great  question  discussed  was  how  to  more  certainly 
and  more  safely  extend  the  work  of  evangelization  among  the  masses. 
The  one  end  sought  was  to  get  people  converted,  and  let  them  go 
to  seek  denominational  homes  where  they  would.  As  the  circle 
widened,  the  mass  broke  up  into  smaller  groops,  for  the  more  frequent 
annual  gatherings,  and  the  larger  or  more  general  conferences  be- 
came less  frequent.  Not  until  many  years  had  passed  were  any 
articles  of  faith  formulated. 

The  itineracy  system  of  ministry  having  been  adopted,  it 
became  necessary  to  elect  superintendents,  who  were  called  bishops. 
These  were  chosen  by  the  delegates  composing  tlie  general  confer- 
ence and  were  always  taken  from  the  ranks  of  the  ministry,  and 
were  men  preeminent  for  ability  and  zeal  in  the  work.  From  the 
first  to  the  present,  twenty-five  different  men  have  been  called  to  this 
station,  and  have  served  the  church  with  fidelity  for  longer  or 
shorter  terms.  Of  this  number  seventeen  have  already  gone  to 
join  the  innumerable  throng  in  glory.  Of  the  eight  who  remain 
with  us  five  have  passed,  or  are  approaching  their  three-score  and 
ten  years,  and  the  others  are  rapidly  nearing  the  Beulah  land. 
Biographies  of  but  two  or  three  of  the  number  have  ever  been 
written.  We  have  been  so  much  engaged  in  present  duty  and  plans 
of  future  conquests  for  the  Redeemer  that  we  have  neglected  to 
place  in  permanent  form  the  memory  of  the  lives  and  deeds  of  our 
fathers  for  our  children  to  read.  The  time  has  now  fully  come 
when  that  duty  should  have  attention,  and  Dr.  H.  A.  Thompson,  a 
man  fully  competent  for  the  task,  and  rarely  endowed  with  maturity 
of  judgment,  extensive  research,  ripe  scholarship,  literary  taste, 
familiarity  with  the  history  and  life  of  the  denomination,  and 
imbued  with  a  love  of  truth  and  a  churchly  spirit,  has  placed  the 
church  and  the  general  reader  of  religious  literature  under  obliga- 
tion for  the  accomplishment  of  this  work  in  the  present  volume. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  task  to  which  the  author  devoted  himself  was  herculean,  owing 
to  the  meagerness  of  records  and  the  cloud  of  oblivion  that  has 
already  settled  over  much  that  would  have  been  exceedingly 
interesting  to  the  reader.  Nevertheless  he  has  accomplished  his 
purpose  in  a  manner  that  will  be  sure  to  receive  the  approval  of  the 
church,  and  the  "  well-done  "  of  all  readers.  The  book  should  find 
a  place  in  not  only  every  United  Brethren  home,  but  also  upon  the 
shelves  of  all  true  lovers  of  the  church  universal.  In  the  light  of 
the  deeds  and  words  of  the  great  actors  on  the  stage  of  the  church's 
activities  will  we  find  much  of  the  secret  of  church  life  and  devel- 
opment, and  also  much  of  the  purpose  and  plan  of  the  Redeemer  in 
drawing  all  men  unto  Himself,  and  securing  the  conquest  of  the 
whole  earth  to  His  kingdom. 

"What  is  the  history  of  the  church  but  in  largest  measure 
the  story  of  the  brave  souls,  whose  hearts  were  fired  with  the 
divinest  enthusiasm,  and  who  braved  all  peril,  even  to  the  bitter 
death  in  the  interest  of  the  sacred  cause." 

R.   COWDEN. 


/ 


CO]N^TE]NTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  Paob. 

Origin  and  Growth  of  the  United  Brethren  m  Christ,      7 

CHAPTER  n. 
Life  of  Philip  William  Otterbein  —  First  Bishop,       .        37 

CHAPTER  III. 
Life  of  Martin  Boehm  —  Second  Bishop 75 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Life  of  George  A.  Geeting  —  Third  Bishop,  .        .        .        104 

CHAPTER  V. 
Life  op  Christian  Newcomer  —  Fottrth  Bishop,       .        .    120 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Life  of  Andrew  Zeller  —  Fifth  Bishop,        .        .        .        157 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Life  op  Joseph  Hoffman  —  Sixth  Bishop,  ....    171 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Life  of  Henry  Kumler,  Sr.  —  Seventh  Bishop,     .        .        187 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Life  of  William  Brown  —  Eighth  Bishop,         .        .        .    306 

CHAPTER  X. 
Life  of  Samuel  Heist  and  —  Ninth  Bishop,     .        .        .        217 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Life  op  Jacob  Erb  — Tenth  Bishop, 327 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Life  op  Henry  Kumler,  Jr.  —  Eleventh  Bishop,  .        242 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Life  op  John  Coons  — Twelfth  Bishop,      .        ,       ,       ,    278 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XIV.  Page. 

Life  of  John  Russel  —  Thikteenth  Bishop,      .        .        .    387 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Life  of  John  Jacob  Glossbrenner,   D.  D.  —  Fourteenth 
Bishop 317 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Life  of  William  Hanby  —  Fifteenth  Bishop,    .        .        .     338 

CHAPTER  XVIL 
Life  of  David  Edwards,  D.  D.  —  Sixteenth  Bishop,     .        361 

CHAPTER  XVHI. 
Life  op  Lewis  Davis,  D.  D.  —  Seventeenth  Bishop,         .    388 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Life  op  Jacob  Markwood  —  Eighteenth  Bishop,   .        .        436 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Life  op  Jonathan  Weaver,  D.  D.  —  Nineteenth  Bishop,     448 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Life  of  Daniel  Shuck — Twentieth  Bishop,  .        .       473 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Life  of  John  Dickson,  D.  D.  —  Twenty-first  Bishop,      .    498 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Life  of  Milton  Wright,  D.  D.  —  Twenty-second  Bishop,  535 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Life  op  Nicholas  Castle  —  Twenty-third  Bishop,    .        ,    551 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
Life  of  Ezekiel  Boring  Kephart,  D.  D.  LL.  D.  —  Twenty- 
fourth  Bishop 581 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
Life  op  Daniel  Kumler  Plickinger,  D.  D.  — Twenty-fifth 
Bishop, 599 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 
Portrait  of  Author,  .        .        .        .        .     Frontispiece. 

Portrait  op  Philip  William  Otterbein,     .        .        .       .  27 

Portrait  op  Martin  Boehm, 75 

Portrait  of  Joseph  Hoffman,       ..."...  171 

Portrait  of  William  Brown, 206 

Portrait  of  Jacob  Erb,         . 227 

Portrait  of  Henry  Kumler,  Jr.,      .....  242 

Portrait  of  John  Coons, 278 

Portrait  of  John  Russel, 287 

Portrait  of  John  Jacob  Glossbrenner,  D.  D.,          .        .  317 

Portrait  op  William  Hanby 338 

Portrait  op  David  Edwards,  D.  D 361 

Portrait  of  Lewis  Davis,  D.  D 388 

Portrait  op  Jacob  Markwood 426 

Portrait  of  Jonathan  Weaver,  D.  D.,    .        .        .        .  448 

Portrait  of  Daniel  Shuck, 473 

Portrait  of  John  Dickson,  D.  D., 498 

Portrait  of  Milton  Wright,  D.  D.,         .        .                .  525 

Portrait  of  Nicholas  Castle 551 

Portrait  op  Ezekiel  Boring  Kephart,  D.  D.  LL.  D.,  .  581 

Portrait  of  Daniel  Kumler  Flickinger,  D.  D.,-      .        .  599 


THE  RISE  AND  PROGRESS 

OF  THE 

UNITED  BRETHREN  CHURCH. 


IN"  the  United  Brethren  church  there  are  at  present 
about  two  hundred  thousand  members,  represent- 
ing a  population  of  at  least  750,000  people.  There 
are  about  sixteen  hundred  persons  enrolled  as  itinerant 
preachers,  with  six  hundred  local  preachers,  making  at 
least  two  thousand,  more  or  less,  effective  men  who  are 
teaching  the  people  the  way  of  everlasting  life.  There 
are  two  hundred  thousand  children  and  youths  gathered 
into  the  schools  on  the  Sabbath,  whose  spiritual  welfare 
is  looked  after  by  more  than  thirty  thousand  teachers 
and  officers.  It  ranks  eighth  as  to  numbers  among  the 
denominations  in  the  United  States,  All  intelligent 
people,  whether  members  of  it  or  not,  are  interested  in 
a  church  with  so  large  a  membership  and  exerting  the 
power  which  it  does  exert  for  the  weal  or  woe  of  the 
community. 

The  Roman  Catholics  insist  upon  but  one  true 
church,  their  own  denomination,  and  there  can  be  no 
other.  The  revolt  of  Luther  did  not  of  necessity  cre- 
ate denominations.  Yet  the  great  underlying  principle 
of  Protestantism  allows  as  many  divisions  of  the  army 
of  the  Lord  as  the  wants  of  man  require.  These  are 
all  branches  of  the  true  church.  Yet  there  should  be 
something  to  justify  their  separate  existence.  A  new 
denomination  may  arise  either  by  the  breaking  away 
from  the  mother  church,  or  by  the  leadings  of  God's 

7 


b  THE    KISE    AND    PROGRESS    OF 

providence  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  hour.  Histor} 
is  full  of  examples  of  minister  and  member  breaking 
away  from  old  and  established  churches  and  the  found- 
ing of  a  new  denomination  of  their  own,  but  as  a  rule 
such  movements  are  not  productive  of  the  highest 
good.  Generally  this  is  caused  by  some  matter  of 
church  government  or  some  other  minor  consideration 
which  has  led  to  bitterness  and  heart  burnings,  and 
when  the  separation  occurs  it  is  frequently  not  so  much 
to  honor  God  and  to  advance  His  cause  as  to  glorify 
self. 

John  "Wesley,  Martin  Luther,  and  others  who  after- 
wards became  the  founders  of  churches,  did  not  start 
out  with  this  idea  of  a  new  organization.  They  sought 
to  defend  and  proclaim  the  truth  of  God,  and  when 
God  in  his  providence  opened  a  way  for  them,  like  obe- 
dient children  they  walked  therein.  Otterbein  and  the 
men  who  were  associated  with  him  did  not  seek  to 
establish  a  new  organization,  but  held  on  to  their  early 
church  connection  until  practically  driven  out.  They 
did  not  organize  their  converts  into  a  new  church  until 
there  was  no  other  place  left  for  them.  It  was  very 
late  in  life,  perhaps,  before  he  had  any  very  definite 
idea  that  such  should  be  the  result  of  his  labors.  He 
sent  for  Christian  Newcomer  and  Jacob  Baulus  that  he 
might  confer  with  them  concerning  the  work  he  was  so 
soon  to  leave  behind  him.  He  often  asked,  "  Will  the 
work  stand  and  endure  the  fiery  test  ? "  In  the  con- 
versation that  ensued  he  said,  "  The  Lord  has  pleased 
graciously  to  satisfy  me  fully  that  the  work  will  abide." 
The  prophetic  foresight  of  the  man  was  justified.  His 
work  still  lives. 

This  church  therefore  was  not  the  result  of  schism. 


THE    UNITED    BRETHREN    CHURCH.  9 

It  was  not  broken  off  from  any  other  organization  be- 
cause of  unpleasant  relations  or  as  a  mere  matter  of 
church  government.  It  was  of  the  Lord's  own  planting. 
The  men  who  organized  it  did  not  intend  to  do  so,  but 
were  led  of  God  to  take  steps  of  which  they  had  not 
dreamed,  to  build  a  structure  for  which  they  had  not 
planned.  When  the  age  needs  a  great  man  for  an 
emergency  God  either  finds  such  a  man  or  creates  one 
and  sends  him  forth  to  deliver  the  message  wliich  He 
gives  him,  or  to  do  the  work  which  He  puts  into  his 
hands.  When  God  has  a  people  there  must  be  some 
place  in  which  they  shall  grow  and  prosper,  or  He  will 
make  a  place  for  them.  They  are  as  the  apple  of  His 
eye,  and  they  will  not  be  left  desolate. 

The  work  of  the  men  who  led  in  the  founding  of 
this  new  denomination  will  be  given  at  length  in  the 
pages  that  are  to  follow.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that 
Mr,  Otterbein  was  a  German,  a  member  of  the  German 
Reformed  church  and  a  preacher  in  the  same.  He  was 
an  enlightened  and  sincere  seeker  after  the  truth,  but 
not  at  this  period  a  man  of  the  deep  religious  experience 
which  he  afterwards  possessed.  '•  There  was,  however, 
an  earnestness  and  pathos  in  his  preaching,  which 
aroused  the  people  from  the  dead  formality  into  which 
they  had  fallen,  under  the  labors  of  a  Christless  minis- 
try. Some  were  glad  and  feasted  on  this  rich  food  of 
pure  evangelical  doctrine,  and  none  more  than  his  own 
mother ;  but  by  far  the  greater  number  hissed  and 
scoffed  and  gave  the  young  evangelist  to  understand 
that  he  must  break  the  point  off  his  sermons  or  cease  to 
preach."  This  he  could  not  do.  So  he  left  his  native 
land  and  came  to  America  as  a  Missionary  to  the  Ger- 
mans. 


10  THE    RISE    AND    TEOGEESS    OF 

"  The  moral  condition  of  the  Germans  in  America 
was  the  most  deplorable,  and  the  very  least  was  being 
done  for  its  improvement.  The  more  we  direct  our 
eyes  to  those  early  days  the  more  apparent  will  it  be 
that  Otterbein  occupied  a  unique  position,  and  that,  as 
regards  evangelical  teachmg,  he  stood,  by  towering  pre- 
eminence, the  apostle  to  the  Germans.  For  Otterbein's 
labors  and  for  the  United  Brethren  church  there  was  a 
distinct  field  in  God's  vineyard,  and  that  field  did  not  en- 
croach upon  the  field  of  any  other  active  occupant. 
While  the  United  Brethren  church  was  raised  up  to 
serve  the  Germans,  its  office  was  to  serve  them  —  not  as 
Germans — but  as  men.  Thus  while  they  or  their  repre- 
sentatives, whatever  the  language  spoken  might  be, 
should  continue,  and  while  there  should  be  lost  souls  to 
be  won,  so  long,  if  faithful  to  its  solemn  duties,  its 
commission  would  continue  in  force." 

The  doctrines  of  evangelical  Christianity  seem  to 
have  been  almost  lost  sight  of.  Many  of  those  whose 
names  were  upon  the  church  records  were  merely  nomi- 
nal members,  who  had  no  interest  in  the  church  beyond 
their  connection  with  it,  and  who  knew  nothing  of 
what  is  meant  by  the  regeneration  of  the  soul  and  the 
witness  of  the  spirit.  When  Otterbein  experienced 
this  and  began  to  teach  it  to  others  in  his  denomina- 
tion he  met  with  much  opposition.  Newcomer  tells  us 
how  he  went  to  his  pastor,  a  Mennonite  preacher,  and 
suggested  to  him  that  it  was  the  privilege  of  all  believ- 
ers to  have  a  knowledge  of  their  acceptance  with  God, 
but  the  pastor  did  not  think  it  possible.  Afterwards 
he  confessed  his  error  and  accepted  the  truth.  God 
was  seeking  through  these  spiritually  minded  men  to 
awaken  their  dead,  formal  churches  to  the  opening  of 


THE   UNITED   BRETHREN    CHURCH.  11 

a  new  era  of  evangelical  life.  If  they  would  heed  his 
voice  they  would  grow  and  prosper.  If  they  did  not 
the  kingdom  sliould  be  taken  from  them  and  given  to 
those  who  were  more  worthy.  They  proved  them- 
selves unequal  to  the  emergency,  hence  a  new  organi- 
zation was  called  into  existence,  which  should  hold  up 
to  prominence  the  saving  truths  of  Christianity. 

The  providential  origin  of  the  church  is  shown 
further  by  the  spirit  of  Christian  brotherhood  which  it 
produced.  At  a  time  when  cold  formality  and  cap- 
tious criticism  is  the  rule,  it  is  no  easy  thing  to  throw 
aside  our  own  preferences  and  allow  the  principles  of 
Christian  charity  to  prevail,  as  was  done  when  Boehm 
and  Otterbein  met,  and  in  all  their  after  relations  to 
each  other.  "  The  history  of  the  various  denominations 
furnishes  no  parallel  to  the  union  of  the  different  ele- 
ments following  upon  the  famous  meeting  at  Isaac 
Long's.  There  have  been  other  unions  but  they  have 
not  been  so  spontaneous.  They  have  been  more 
mechanical,  more  the  result  of  calculation.  Living-  in 
times  in  which  perhaps  even  essential  points  are  often 
ignored,  we  are  not  prepared  to  appreciate  a  union  that 
required  the  sacrifice  of  only  minor  points.  But  char- 
ity and  forbearance  were  then  so  rare  that  it  was  no 
ordinary  step  when  Christians  so  far  overcame  their 
suspicion  and  exclusiveness  as  to  meet  on  the  broad 
plain  of  Christian  fraternity.  E\ddently  for  those 
brought  together  in  such  a  union  and  in  such  fellow- 
ship, no  other  name  could  be  so  appropriate  as  the 
simple  spiritual  application  — brethren.  Our  church  is 
indebted  in  no  small  degree  for  its  harmonious  devel 
opment  and  present  extent  to  the  spirit  of  peace 
bequeathed  to  it  in  its  founding." — Drxiry. 


12  THE   EISE    AND    PROGRESS    OF 

While  ]VIr.  Otterbein  was  serving  the  congregation 
of  the  Reformed  Church  at  York,  Pa.,  influences  were 
at  work  which  led  him  finally  along  the  path  of  inde- 
pendent church  action.  "  The  leaven  of  spirituality  was 
steadily  gaining  force  and  producing  the  usual  effects  in 
many  places,  and  the  ministers  and  people  sympathizing 
with  Mr.  Otterbein's  views  were  increasing.  Their  ec- 
clesiastical relations  became  burdensome,  for  their 
motives  no  less  than  their  piety  and  wisdom  were  called 
in  question.  Those  who  sympathized  in  the  revival 
movement  came  together  for  counsel.  Unintentionally, 
perhaps  unconsciously,  the  ties  of  the  old  ecclesiastical 
relationship  had  grown  feeble  since  they  had  no  fellow- 
ship of  heart  and  life.  There  were  not,  however,  any 
indications  of  insubordination ;  rather  the  disposition 
was  to  continue  faithful  to  their  connections  and  wait 
the  developments  of  Providence.  If  there  was  any  ambi- 
tion of  leadership  and  the  formation  of  a  new  church 
organization,  it  was  carefully  hidden  from  public  view. 
But  there  was  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  next  step  was  a 
plain  one.  A  Reformed  society  in  Baltimore  had  gath- 
ered into  its  folds  quite  a  number  of  members  who  had 
been  converted  under  the  peaching  of  Mr.  Otterbein. 
They  were  mostly  young  persons  of  an  enterprising 
spirit,  and  they  joined  the  evangelical  party  which  was 
already  forming  in  the  church.  In  the  end  a  new 
society  was  organized,  and  Otterbein  accepted  a  call  to 
the  pastorate." 

The  rules  of  discipline  adopted  by  this  Baltimore 
congregation  are  very  important  at  this  juncture, 
as  they  were  written  by  Mr.  Otterbein,  and  were  the 
basis  of  the  new  church  which  afterwards  followed. 
They  were  adopted  in  1785,  and  recorded  in  the  church 


THE    UNITED    BRETHREN    CHURCH.  13 

book.  They  are  introduced  by  the  following  prefatory 
remarks : 

"William  Otterbein  came  to  Baltimore  May  4, 
1Y74,  and  commenced  his  ministerial  work  Without 
delay,  and  by  the  help  of  God,  he  began  to  organize  a 
church,  and  as  far  as  it  was  possible  for  him,  to  bring 
it  within  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  gospel. 
Such  disciplinary  church  rules  as  were  needful  were 
therefore  from  time  to  time  adopted,  made  known,  and 
the  importance  of  keeping  them  earnestly  enjoined.  But 
the  afflicting  and  long-continued  war  and  tlie  disper- 
sion, on  account  of  the  same,  of  many  of  its  members 
into  the  interior  of  the  country,  prevented  these  rules 
from  being  written  in  a  book  for  their  preservation 

"  But  through  and  by  the  goodness  of  God,  peace 
and  quietness  being  restored,  and  with  the  gathering 
together  of  former  members,  and  with  a  considerable 
addition  of  new  members,  the  church  finds  herself  at 
this  time  considerably  increased.  Therefore,  it  is 
unanimously  concluded  and  ordained,  by  the  whole 
church,  to  bring  the  constitution  and  ordinances  of  this 
church  into  the  following  form,  which  we  hold  as 
agreeing  with  the  word  of  God  ;  and  for  their  perma- 
nency, and  perpetual  observance  herewith,  record  and 
preserve. 

1.  "  By  the  undersigned  preacher  and  members  that 
now  constitute  this  church,  it  is  hereby  ordained  and 
resolved,  that  this  church,  which  has  been  brought  to- 
gether in  Baltimore,  by  the  ministration  of  our  present 
preacher,  W.  Otterbein,  in  the  future  consist  of  a 
preacher,  three  elders  and  three  trustees,  an  almoner, 
and  church  members;  and  these  together  shall  pass  under 
and  by  the  name :    The  Evangelical  Reformed  Church,. 


14  THE   RISE   AND   PE0(JEESS    OF 

2.  "  Ko  one,  whoever  he  may  be,  can  be  a  preacher 
or  member  of  this  church,  whose  walk  is  unchristian 
and  offensive,  or  who  lives  in  some  open  sin  (1  Tim.  iii. 

•  1-3  ;  1  Cor.  v.  11-13). 

3.  "  Each  church  member  must  attend  faithfully  the 
public  worship  on  the  Sabbath  day  and  at  all  other 
times. 

•  4.  "  This  church  shall  solemnly  keep  two  days  of 
humiliation,  fasting  and  prayer,  which  shall  be  desig- 
nated by  the  preacher  —  one  in  the  spring,  the  other  in 
the  autumn  of  the  year. 

5.  "The  members  of  this  church,  impressed  with  the 
necessity  of  a  constant  religious  exercise,  of  suffering 
the  word  of  God  to  richly  and  daily  dwell  in  them 
(Col.  iii.  16;  Heb.  iii.  13;  x.  24,  25),  resolve  that  each 
sex  shall  hold  meetings  apart,  once  a  week,  for  which 
the  most  suitable  day,  hour,  and  place  shall  be  chosen, 
for  the  males  as  well  as  the  females ;  for  the  first  an 
hour  in  the  evening,  and  for  the  last  an  hour  in  the 
day-time,  are  considered  the  most  suitable.  In  the 
absence  of  the  preacher,  an  elder  or  trustee  shall  lead 
such  meetings. 

"  The  rules  of  these  special  meetings  are  these: 
{a)  No  one  can  be  received  into  them  who  is  not 
resolved  to  flee  the  wrath  to  come,  and  by  faith  and 
repentance  to  seek  his  salvation  in  Christ,  and  who  is 
not  resolved  willingly  to  obey  the  disciplinary  rules 
which  are  now  observed  by  this  church  for  good  order 
and  advance  in  godliness,  as  well  as  such  as  in  the 
future  may  be  added  by  the  preacher  and  the  church 
vestry;  yet  always  excepted,  that  such  rules  are  founded 
on  the  word  of  God,  which  is  the  only  unerring  guide 
of  faith  and  practice. 


THE    imiTED    BRETHBEN    CHUKCH.  15 

(h)  These  meetings  are  to  commence  and  end  with 
singing  and  prayer;  and  notliing  shall  be  done  but  what 
will  tend  to  build  up  an  d  advance  godliness. 

(c)  Those  who  attend  these  special  meetings  but 
indifferently,  sickness  and  absence  from  home  excepted, 
after  being  twice  or  thrice  admonished,  without  mani- 
fest amendment,  shall  exclude  themselves  from  the 
church. 

(d)  Every  member  of  this  church  should  fervently 
engage  in  private  worship,  morning  and  evening  pray 
with  his  family,  and  himself  and  his  household  attend 
divine  worship  at  all  times. 

(e)  Every  member  shall  sedulously  abstain  from  all 
back-biting  and  evil-speaking  of  any  person  or  persons 
without  exception,  and  especially  of  his  brethren  in  the 
church  (Eom.  xv.  1-3 ;  2  Cor.  xii.  20 ;  1  Peter,  ii.  1 ; 
James  iv.  11).  The  transgressor  shall,  in  the  first 
instance,  be  admonished  privately ;  but  the  second  time 
he  shall  be  openly  rebuked  in  the  class-meeting. , 

(/")  Every  one  must  avoid  all  worldly  and  sinful 
company,  and  to  the  utmost  shun  all  foolish  talking 
and  jesting  (Ps.  xv.  4;  Eph.  v.  4—11).  This  offense  wiU 
meet  with  severe  church  censure. 

(g)  ISTo  one  shall  be  permitted  to  buy  or  sell  on  the 
Sabbath,  nor  to  attend  to  worldly  business ;  or  to  travel 
far  or  near,  but  each  shall  spend  the  day  in  quietness 
and  religious  exercises  (Isa.  Iviii.  13-14). 

(h)  Each  member  shall  willingly  attend  to  any  of 
the  private  concerns  of  the  church,  when  required  to  do 
so  by  the  preacher  or  vestry  ;  and  each  one  shall  strive 
to  lead  a  quiet  and  godly  life,  lest  he  give  offense  and 
fall  into  the  condemnation  of  the  adversary  (Matt.  v. 
14-16 ;  1  Peter,  ii.  12). 


16  THE  RISE    AND    PKOGKESS    OF 

6.  "Persons  expressing  a  desire  to  commune  with 
us  at  the  Lord's  table,  akhough  they  have  not  been 
members  of  our  cliurch,  shall  be  admitted  by  consent  of 
tlie  vestry ;  provided  that  nothing  justly  can  be  alleged 
against  their  walk  in  life,  and  more  es23ecially  when  it 
is  known  that  they  are  seeking  their  salvation.  After 
the  preparation  sermon,  such  persons  may  declare  them- 
selves openly  before  the  assembly ;  also,  that  they  are 
ready  to  submit  to  all  wholesome  discipline ;  and  then 
they  shall  be  received  into  the  church. 

7.  "  For  as  much  as  the  difference  of  people  and 
denominations  end  in  Christ  (Kom.  x.  12;  Col.  iii.  11) 
and  availeth  nothing  in  him,  but  a  new  creature  (Gal. 
vi.  13-36),  it  becomes  our  duty  to  commune  with  and 
admit  to  the  Lord's  table,  professors  to  whatever  order 
or  sect  of  the  Christian  church  they  belong. 

8.  "All  persons  who  may  not  attend  our  class- 
meetings,  nor  partake  of  the  holy  sacrament  with  us, 
but  attend  our  public  worship,  shall  be  visited  by  the 
preacher,  in  liealth  and  in  sickness,  and  on  all  suitable 
occasions.  He  shall  admonish  them,  baptize  their  chil- 
dren, attend  to  their  funerals,  impart  instruction  to  their 
3'^ouths,  and  should  they  have  any  children  the  church 
shall  interest  itself  for  their  education. 

9.  "  The  preacher  shall  make  it  one  of  his  highest 
duties  to  watch  over  the  rising  youth,  diligently  instruct 
them  in  the  principles  of  religion,  according  to  the  word 
of  God.  He  should  catechise  them  once  a  week,  and 
the  more  mature  in  years  who  have  obtained  a 
knowledge  of  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel,  should  be 
impressed  with  the  importance  of  striving,  through 
divine  grace,  to  become  worthy  recipients  of  the  holy 
sacrament,  and  in  view  of  church  membership,  such  as 


THE    UNITED   BRETHREN   CHURCH.  17 

manifest  a  desire  to  this  end  should  be  thoroughly 
instructed  for  a  time,  be  examined  in  the  presence  of 
their  parents,  and  if  approved,  after  the  preparation  ser- 
mon, the}^  should  be  presented  before  the  church,  and 
admitted. 

10.  "  The  church  is  to  establish  and  maintain  a  Ger- 
man school,  as  soon  as  possible  ;  the  vestry  to  spare  no 
effort  to  procure  the  most  competent  teachers  and  devise 
such  means  and  rules  as  will  promote  the  best  interests 
of  the  school. 

11.  "That  after  the  demise  or  removal  of  the 
preacher,  the  male  members  of  the  church  shall  meet, 
without  delay,  in  the  church  edifice,  and  after  singing 
and  prayer,  one  or  more  shall  be  proposed  by  the  elders 
and  trustees.  A  majority  of  votes  shall  determine  the 
choice  and  a  call  shall  be  made  accordingly  ;  but  should 
the  preacher  on  whom  the  choice  faUs  decline  the  call, 
then  as  soon  as  possible  others  shall  be  proposed  and  a 
choice  made.  But  here  it  is  especially  reserved,  that 
should  it  so  happen  that  before  the  demise  or  removal 
of  the  preacher,  his  place  should  already  have  been 
provided  for  by  a  majority  of  votes,  then  no  new  choice 
shall  take  place. 

12.  "  Ko  preacher  can  stay  among  us  who  is  not  in 
unison  with  our  adopted  rules  and  order  of  things^and 
class-meetings,  and  who  does  not  diligently  observe 
them. 

13.  "  No  preacher  can  stay  among  us  who  teaches 
the  doctrine  of  predestination,  or  the  impossibility  of 
falling  from  grace,  and  who  holdeth  these  as  doctrinal 
points. 

14.  '"  Ko  preacher  can  stay  among  us  who  will  not 
to  the  best  of  his  ability  care  for  the  various  churches 


ib  THE    KISE    AND    PEOCJKESS    OF 

in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Virginia,  which  churches 
under  tlie  superintendence  of  William  Otterbein  stand 
in  fraternal  unity  with  us. 

15.  "I^o  preacher  can  stay  among  us  who  shall 
refuse  to  sustain,  with  all  diligence  such  members  as 
have  arisen  from  this  or  some  other  churches  or  who 
may  yet  arise  as  helpers  in  the  work  of  the  Lord  as 
preachers  and  exhorters,  and  to  afford  unto  them  all 
possible  encouragement,  so  long  as  their  lives  shall  be 
according  to  the  gospel. 

16.  "  All  the  preceding  items  shall  be  presented  to 
the  preacher  chosen,  and  his  free  consent  thereto 
obtained  before  he  enters  upon  his  ministry. 

17.  "  The  preacher  shall  nominate  the  elders  from 
among  the  members  who  attend  the  special  meetings, 
and  no  others  shall  be  proposed ;  and  their  duties  shall 
be  made  known  unto  them  by  him,  before  the  church. 

18.  "  The  elders  so  long  as  they  live  in  accordance 
with  the  gospel  and  shall  not  attempt  to  introduce  any 
new  act  contrary  to  this  constitution  and  these  ordi- 
nances, are  not  to  be  dismissed  from  their  office  except 
on  account  of  debility,  or  other  cause.  Should  an  elder 
wish  to  retire,  then  in  that  case  or  in  case  of  removal 
by  death,  the  place  shall  be  supplied  by  the  preacher  as 
already  provided. 

19.  "  The  three  trustees  are  to  be  chosen  yearly  on 
new-year's-day,  as  follows : 

"  The  vestry  will  propose  six  from  among  the  mem- 
bers who  partake  with  us  of  the  holy  sacrament.  Each 
voter  shall  write  the  names  of  the  three  he  desires  as 
trustees,  on  a  piece  of  paper,  and  when  the  church  has 
met,  these  papers  shall  be  collected,  opened  and  read, 
and  such  as  have  a  majority  of  votes  shall  be  announced 


THE    UNITED    BRETHREN   CHURCH.  19 

to  the  church,  and  their  duties  made  known  to  them  by 
the  preacher,  m  the  presence  of  the  church. 

20.  "  The  ahuoner  shall  be  chosen  *at  the  same 
time  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the  trustees,  and  at 
the  next  election  will  present  his  account. 

21.  "The  preachers,  elders,  and  trustees  shall  at- 
tend to  all  the  affairs  of  the  church,  shall  compose  the 
church-vestry,  and  shall  be  so  considered. 

22.  "  All  deeds,  leases  and  other  rights  concerning 
the  property  of  this  church  shall  be  conveyed  in  the 
best  and  safest  manner  to  this  church  vestry  and  their 
successors,  as  trustees  of  this  church. 

23.  "  Should  a  preacher,  elder  or  trustee  be  accused 
of  any  known  immorality,  upon  the  testimony  of  two 
or  three  credible  witnesses,  the  same  shall  be  sus- 
tained against  liim,  and  he  shall  be  immediately  sus- 
pended ;  and  until  he  gives  some  proof  of  true  repent- 
ance, and  makes  open  confession,  he  shall  remain  ex- 
cluded from  this  church.  The  same  rule  shall  be 
observed  and  carried  out  in  relation  to  members  of  this 
church  who  shall  be  found  guilty  of  immoral  conduct 
(1  Cor.  V.  11-13;  1  Tim.  v.  20;  Tit.  iii.  10). 

24.  "  All  offenses  between  members  shall  be  dealt 
with  in  strict  conformity  with  the  precepts  of  our 
Lord  (Matt,  xviii.  15-18).  No  one  is  therefore  per- 
mitted to  name  the  offender,  or  the  offense,  except  in 
the  order  prescribed  by  our  Savior. 

25.  "  JSTo  member  is  allowed  to  cite  his  brother  be- 
fore the  civil  authority,  for  any  cause.  All  differences 
shall  be  laid  before  the  vestry,  or  each  party  may 
choose  a  referee  from  among  the  members  of  the 
church,  to  whom  the  adjustment  of  the  matter  shall  be 
submitted.      The   decision    of    either    the   vestry    or 


20  THF    RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF 

referees  shall  be  binding  on  each  party;  nevertheless, 
should  any  one  believe  himself  wronged  he  may  ask  a 
second  hearing,  w^hich  shall  not  be  refused*  The  sec- 
ond hearing  may  be  either  before  the  same  men  or 
some  others  of  the  church  ;  but  whoever  shall  refuse  to 
abide  by  this  second  verdict,  or  on  any  occasion  speak 
of  the  matter  of  dispute,  or  accuse  his  opponent  with 
the  same,  excludes  himself  from  the  church. 

26.  "  The  elders  and  trustees  shall  meet  four  times 
in  a  year,  namely  :  the  last  Sabbath  in  March ;  the  last 
Sabbath  in  June  ;  the  last  Sabbath  in  September,  and 
the  last  Sabbath  in  December,  in  the  parsonage  home, 
after  the  afternoon  service,  to  take  the  affairs  of  the 
church  into  consideration. 

27.  "This  constitution  and  these  ordmances  shall 
be  read  everv  new-year's-day  before  the  congregation, 
in  order  to  keep  the  same  in  special  remembrance,  and 
that  they  may  be  carefully  observed  and  no  one  plead 
ignorance  of  the  same. 

28.  "We,  the  subscribers,  acknowledge  the  above 
written  items  and  particulars,  as  the  groundwork  of 
our  church,  and  we  ourselves  as  co-members,  by  our 
signatures  recognize  and  solemnly  promise  religious  obe- 
dience to  the  same." 

William  Otterbein,  Preacher. 

[Signed  by  elders  and  trustees.] 

Baltimore,  January  1,  1Y85. 

All  of  the  members  of  the  church  signed  their 
names  with  their  own  hands,  thereby  binding  them- 
selves to  the  constitution  and  rules  of  the  church. 

These  articles  are  meant  to  be  in  themselves  a  com- 
plete discipline,  and  independent  of  any  other  church 
organization.     In  doctrine,  method  and  spirit  they  are 


THE    UNITED    BKETHKEN    CIIUKCH.  21 

directly  opposed  to  tlie  Reformed  church  of  which 
Otterbein  had  hitherto  been  a  member.  It  was  agreed 
by  the  pastors  who  had  been  interested  in  this  revival 
movement  to  hold  a  conference  in  Baltimore  in  1789 
to  consider  more  fullv  the  interests  of  the  o^rowino- 
congregations  that  looked  to  them  for  spiritual  guid- 
ance. This  may  properly  be  considered  the  first  defi- 
nite step  of  the  new  organization.  Of  the  fourteen 
preachers  who  were  committed  to  the  movement  seven 
were  present.  They  were  a  company  of  men  who 
would  have  done  honor  to  any  church,  and  on  account 
of  their  talents,  their  piety  and  devotion  to  the  work 
of  the  ministry  were  well  qualified  for  the  duties  of 
the  hour. 

At  this  conference  a  confession  of  faith  was  adopted 
which  had  been  in  use  in  Mr.  Otterbein's  own  congfre- 
gation,  save  the  article  touching  ordinances,  which 
had  been  made  a  little  more  liberal  to  meet  the  pecul- 
iarities of  the  Mennonite  brethren.  The  "  rules  of  dis- 
cipline" adopted  were  substantially  what  we  have 
given,  and  were  prepared  by  Otterbein  for  the  use  of 
his  own  congregation .  The  r  ules  and  confession  of  faith 
were  ordered  -to  be  published  in  1813.  They  were 
revised  and  adopted  again  in  1814  They  were  both 
retained  by  the  first  general  conference  of  the  United 
Brethren  in  1815.  Mr.  Spayth,  one  of  the  secretaries 
of  the  conference,  speaks  of  the  confession  of  faith  of 
1789  as  the  "  same  as  in  discipline." 

From  this  beginning  the  church  has  pushed  forward 
to  do  her  part  in  the  conquest  of  the  world.  She  had 
many  things  with  which  to  contend.  She  originated 
among  the  Germans,  and  her  work  was  for  a  time  con- 
fined to  them.     She  finally  overleaped  the  boundary. 


22  THE    RISE    AND    PROGEESS   OF 

and  now  numbers  her  largest  membership  among  the 
Enghsh-speaking  people.  She  owes  little  or  nothing  to 
the  influence  of  great  names,  great  wealth  or  high 
culture.  Her  early  ministers  were  men  taken  from  the 
forest,  the  plow,  the  workshop,  and  who  could  preach 
on  the  Sabbath  while  they  supported  their  families  from 
the  labor  of  the  week.  They  found  their  adherents 
among  men  and  women  in  private  life,  who  were 
humble  like  themselves  and  earned  their  daily  bread  by 
the  sweat  of  their  brows.  Having  come  from  cold, 
formal  churches,  where  the  ministry  were  men  of 
culture,  she  made  the  sad  mistake  of  supposing  that  all 
culture  tended  to  formality,  and  therefore  ignored  all 
the  help  which  a  thorough  education  would  have  fur- 
nished. With  a  firm  conviction  that  a  change  of  heart 
was  absolutely  essential  to  membership  in  a  Christian 
church,  none  were  admitted  to  their  societies,  how- 
ever influential  in  private  life,  who  did  not  have  good 
reason  to  believe  that  they  were  converted,  and  who 
did  not  give  such  evidence  to  others.  Without  a  college 
or  seminary  at  which  to  train  her  preachers,  she  sent 
them  out  with  warm  hearts,  but  with  untrained  minds, 
to  teach  others  the  way  of  life.  Taking  their  lives  in 
their  hands,  counting  no  toil  or  labor  too  severe  that 
they  might  win  souls  to  Christ,  they  have  forded 
streams,  crossed  mountains  and  slept  in  the  forest.  "  In 
journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of  rob- 
bers, in  perils  by  countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathen, 
in  perils  in  the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  perils 
in  the  sea,  in  perils  among  false  brethren ;  in  weariness 
and  painfulness ;  in  watchings  often ;  in  hunger  and 
thirst ;  in  fastings  often ;  in  cold  and  nakedness,"  they 
went  forth,  like  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  testi- 


THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  CHURCH.  23 

fyiug  everywhere  of  their  Master  and  seeking  to  bring 
back  His'lost  sheep  to  the  fold.  The  pages  which  are 
to  follow  in  this  volume  will  show  something  of  the 
trials  endured  and  the  labors  wrought. 

These  men  not  only  required  that  their  followers 
should  have  within  their  own  hearts  the  assurance  of 
their  sins  forgiven,  but  they  must  show  the  same  to  the 
world.  The  church  is  to  be  a  city  set  upon  a  hill.  To 
revolutionize  society  she  must  set  herself  against  evil  in 
church  and  state;  hence  her  men  are  ardent,  moral 
reformers.  Had  she  preached  and  taught  doctrines 
more  palatable  to  the  people  and  refrained  from  seeking 
to  change  the  social  life  about  her,  she  would  have  had 
man}^  more  adherents.  It  seems  comparatively  easy  at 
this  time  to  pass  resolutions  against  strong  drink,  but  to 
array  one's  self  against  it  and  preach  and  practice  what 
we  teach  :  to  forbid  church  members  from  makinof  or 
using  strong  drink  when  distilleries  were  owned  and 
managed -by  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  when  the 
accursed  thing  was  thought  to  be  a  good  creature  of 
God  and  was  used  by  all,  was  no  easy  thing  to  do,  and 
especially  by  a  growing  church  that  needed  members. 
She  was  against  slavery  from  the  beginning,  and  held  it 
wrong  for  man  to  hold  property  in  his  brother  man, 
when  the  national  life  was  honey-combed  with  it,  and 
when  some  other  churches  were  down  on  their  knees  in 
obsequious  submission  to  King  Cotton.  Her  paper  Avas 
bm'ned  by  a  Yirginia  postmaster,  and  her  ministers 
mobbed  because  of  their  views ;  but  she  held  most  ear- 
nestly to  her  convictions,  and  the  logic  of  events  has 
indorsed  the  action.  During  the  late  war  she  was  most 
thoroughly  loyal  to  the  old  flag,  and  sent  more  of  her 
members  and  ministers  to  the  army  than  did  any  other 
church  body  of  equal  size. 


24  THE    KISE    AND  TROaRESS  OF 

Believing  secret  societies  to  be  antichristian  in  their 
nature  and  tendency,  and  therefore  injurious  to  the 
development  of  the  religious  life,  she  has  set  herself 
against  them,  and  made  connection  therewith  a  test  of 
church  membership.  Members  who  allied  themselves 
with  such  organizations  thereby  excluded  themselves 
from  the  pale  of  the  church.  As  these  societies  for  the 
most  part  have  entrenched  themselves  in  our  larger 
cities,  the  church  has  not  made  much  headway  in  the 
cities.  Her  membership  in  the  main  has  come  frojn  a 
rural  population.  She  has  not  consented  to  compro- 
mise because  men  of  means  and  power  have  been 
against  her.  She  has  held  up  what  she  conceived  to  be 
the  banner  of  truth  against  all  forms  of  sin  however 
strongly  fortified  by  wealth,  social  position  or  culture. 

Along  the  line  of  practical,  aggressive  Christian 
work,  the  church  need  not  be  ashamed.  There  is  no- 
where a  more  efficient,  nor  relatively  larger  number  of 
Sabbath-school  workers  than  are  found  within  her  bor- 
ders. They  are  men  and  women  who  have  made  them- 
selves competent  for  the  work  put  into  their  hands  and 
with  a  devotion  and  persistence  that  knows  no  flagging 
they  are  laboring  to  deepen  and  to  make  more  intelli- 
gent the  piety  of  the  church.  Our  home  missionaries 
are  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization,  carrying  to  the  lone 
emigrant  the  knowledge  of  a  Father  who  is  seekingHis 
lost  children.  While  in  German}''  —  whence  came  our 
founder  —  and  among  the  dusky  sons  of  Africa,  go  up 
from  the  labors  of  this  church  songs  of  thanksgiving  to 
Him  who  made  of  one  blood  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth. 

What  the  future  may  have  in  store  for  her  we  do 
not  know.     When   we  consider   the  resources   in  her 


THE    UNITED    BRETHREN    CHURCH.  25 

hands,  and  remember  her  divine  origin;  when  we  look 
to  Him  who  has  safely  led  her  through  the  dangers  and 
trials  of  the  past,  and  made  her  the  instrument  of  sal- 
vation to  thousands  of  human  souls,  the  outlook  is 
hopeful.  Her  work  has  been  given  her  to  do,  and  if 
faithful  to  that  trust,  she  is  immortal  till  her  work  be 
done.  If  she  will  prove  as  faithful  to  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints  as  in  the  past ;  if  her  sons  and 
daughters  shall  have  the  baptism  which  the  fathers 
received  and  be  willing  to  make  such  sacrifices  as  God 
may  require,  and  be  led  whithersoever  He  may  desire  to 
lead,  then  He  will  give  great  success  to  her  labors  and 
the  work  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in  her  hands.  If 
she  shall  kindly,  but  firmly,  put  herself  against  all 
forms  of  sin,  in  church,  or  state,  in  public  and  private 
life,  organized  or  unorganized,  then  shaU  she  be  a  great 
power  for  good  and  the  generations  to  come  shall  rise 
up  and  call  her  blessed.  If  she  shall  be  wilUng  to 
adapt  herself  to  the  wants  of  the  ages  as  they  come  and 
go,  holding  on  to  what  is  essential  and  throwing  off 
what  is  temporal,  then  shall  she  give  healing  to  the 
nations  and  balm  to  wounded  hearts.  May  we  not 
hope  that  she  will  thus  live  and  labor  and  endure,  and 
that  God  shall  lead  her  out  into  a  larger  place,  that 
many  more  sons  and  daughters  shall  be  brought  into  her 
fold  and  that  she  shall,  until  the  end  of  time,  prove 
a  light  to  the  nations  that  sit  in  darkness. 

"  What  we  desire  for  this  church  we  desire  for  all 
the  branches  of  the  chui:ch  of  God  ;  that  alike,  holding 
fast  whatever  is  proved,  v/elcoming  all  new  light  and 
standing  true  in  every  trial,  each  may  have  success  in 
its  particular  mission  and  advance  through  the  princi- 
ple of  a  divinely  implanted  life  until  the  inward  and 


26  THE   UNITED   BKETHKEN   CHURCH. 

essential,  if  not  the  outward  and  incidental,  unity  of 
Christ's  church  shall  everywhere  appear  and  unite  the 
church  militant  —  yes,  the  church  fighting  and  battle- 
scarred  —  shall  join  the  church  triumphant  in  joyous 
acclaims  over  a  lost  world,  restored  to  obedience  to  its 
sovereio:n  Author,^^ 


— 67^(!^''^y5r$r— 


WOktAtw 


PHILIP  WILLIAM  OTTERBEIN, 
FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


ON  the  3d  day  of  June,  1726,  in  the  ancient  town  of 
Dillenburg  in  the  province  of  Nassau,  now  known 
as  Weisbaden,  Philip  William  Otterbein  was  born. 
The  town  overlooks  the  river  Dille.  "  Just  above  the 
town  stood  a  noble  ancient  castle,  the  birthplace  and 
residence  of  an  illustrious  line  of  counts.  Here  Will- 
iam the  Silent  was  born.  Dillenburg  contained  in  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  over  three  thousand 
inhabitants.  It  was  noted  for  its  Latin  school,  female 
seminary,  mines  and  mineral  springs." 

John  Daniel  Otterbein,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  born  September  6, 1696.  He  was  mar- 
ried November  28, 1T19,  to  Miss  Wilhelmina  Henrietta, 
daughter  of  John  Jacob  Hoerlen.  She  is  called  by  the 
faculty  of  the  Herborn  School,  "  the  riglit  noble  and 
very  virtuous  woman  Wilhelmina  Henrietta."  The 
father  was  styled  "  the  right  reverend  and  very  learned 
John  Daniel  Otterbein."  He  studied  at  Herborn,  and 
in  1718  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  ministry.  In 
1719  he  became  a  teacher  in  the  Reformed  School  at 
Dillenburg.  In  the  year  1728  he  became  pastor  of  the 
congregation  at  Frohnhausen  and  Wissenbach,  the 
former  located  about  three  miles  from  Dillenburg,  to 
which  former  place  he  now  moved.  Here  he  performed 
the  duties  which  fell  to  his  lot,  teaching  and  training 
his  family  so  as  to  prepare  them  for  the  schools  about 

27 


28  PHILIP  WILLIAM  OTTERBEIN, 

him,  instructing  his  congregation  m  the  teachings  of 
the  catechism,  and  so  hved,  honored  and  esteemed  by 
his  people. 

His  was  a  piety  Avhich  controlled  his  inmost  life. 
In  the  register  at  Frohnhausen  he  writes  :  "  Here  I,  J. 
D.  O.,  begin  in  the  name  of  the  Triune  God,  and 
will  continue  this  work  to  His  honor,  which  must  be 
the  nature  of  all  our  private  as  well  as  public  deeds  and 
acts."  In  the  marriage  register  he  writes  :  "  May  the 
Triune  God,  to  Avhom  I  have  committed  myself  and  all 
my  possessions,  grant  that  my  beginning  be  pious,  holy 
and  salutary,  so  that  all  my  actions  may  redound  to  the 
honor  of  His  name  and  the  blessed  edification  of  many." 

His  ministry  was  abruptly  brought  to  a  close.  He 
died  J^ovember  14,  1742,  in  the  beginning  of  his  forty- 
seventh  year. 

The  following  account  of  this  good  man,  the  father 
of  our  first  bishop,  was  written  in  1802,  for  the  Nassau 
Chronicle^  and  gives  a  commendable  record  of  the  man 
and  his  family : 

"  He  was  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  fulfill  the  duties 
of  his  vocation ;  and  in  the  circle  of  his  family,  which 
consisted  of  six  sons  and  one  daughter,  he  enjoyed 
every  possible  domestic  happiness.  Being  formerly  a 
teacher,  he  availed  himself  of  every  advantage  by 
means  of  domestic  instruction  to  prepare  his  sons  for 
their  future  exalted  career.  His  industry  was  so  far 
rewarded  that  the  eldest  son  was  sent  to  the  high  school 
at  Herborn,  where  he  had  already  gained  the  confidence 
of  his  teachers,  v\^hen  death  destroyed  the  father's  well- 
conceived  plan.  The  father  died  in  1Y42  without  leav- 
ing any  means,  because  the  annual  income  was  indeed 
not  sufficient  to  meet  even  nccessar}'  expenses.     The 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BEETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      29 

sufferings  of  the  anxious  mother  and  deeply  wounded 
widow  were  indescribable.  Yet  they  were  not  greater 
than  her  trust  in  God. 

"  She  moved  to  Herborn,  because  her  sons  could  be 
educated  more  cheaply  there,  and  living  was  likewise 
less  expensive.  The  following  year  already  her  eldest 
son  received  a  charge  from  which  he  realized  an  amount 
equal  to  one-half  of  his  father's  salary.  The  family 
fared  much  better  now.  Four  years  later  he  received 
a  parish.  The  second  son  received  a  remunerative  ap- 
pointment by  which  he  was  able  to  assist  in  supporting 
the  family  and  educating  his  youngest  brothers.  Six 
years  later  he  went  to  a  foreign  land,  where  he  was  liv- 
ing after  a  number  of  years  happy  and  honored.  Then 
the  third  brother  received  a  similar  position  and 
through  him  the  education  of  his  remaining  brothers  was 
fully  completed.  This  good  man  still  lives  contented 
in  this  place.  He  had  the  pleasure  of  having  his 
mother,  a  woman  who  was  very  respectable  and  most 
noble,  with  him,  and  he  manifested  toward  her,  who 
saw  all  her  children  well  cared  for,  a  genuine  filial  af- 
fection up  to  her  death.  She  died  at  an  advanced  age. 
The  three  youngest  sons  left  our  state.  They  all  filled 
good  parishes  and  were  in  good  financial  circumstances. 
One  of  the  sons  by  means  of  his  Avritings  gained  for 
himself  quite  a  large  reading  public,and  another  occupied 
a  seat  and  had  a  voice  in  the  consistory  of  his  country." 

This  faithful  mother  seconded  the  aims  and  efforts 
of  the  faithful  pastor  and  father.  The  teaching  which 
he  sought  to  give  his  family  at  home  was  supplemented 
by  the  mother  moving  to  Herborn  that  she  might, 
with  her  limited  resources,  give  her  children  the  best 
education  the  town  afforded.     Through  her  economv 


30  PHILIP  WILLIAM  OTTEEBEIN, 

and  efforts  with  the  aid  of  the  older  children,  these 
sons  were  all  classically  and  theologically  educated, 
and  all  of  them  became  ministers  of  the  gospel.  She 
was  very  devoted  to  her  children.  "When  the  earnestness 
and  devotedness  of  William's  early  preaching  excited 
opposition  on  the  part  of  some  of  his  hearers,  his 
mother  said  to  him,  "  Ah,  William,  I  expected  this,  and 
give  you  joy.  This  place  is  too  narrow  for  you,  my 
son  ;  they  will  not  receive  you  here  ;  you  will  find  your 
work  elsewhere."  She  was  often  heard  to  say :  "  My 
William  will  have  to  be  a  missionary ;  he  is  so  frank, 
so  open,  so  natural,  so  prophet  like."  When  the  time 
really  came  for  him  to  enter  on  mission  work  in  a  for- 
eign land,  "  she  hastened  to  her  closet,  and  after  being 
relieved  by  tears  and  prayer,  she  returned  strengthened, 
and  taking  her  William  by  the  hand  and  pressing  that 
hand  to  her  bosom,  she  said,  '  Go  ;  the  Lord  bless  and 
keep  thee.  The  Lord  cause  His  face  to  shine  upon  thee 
and  with  much  grace  direct  thy  steps.  On  earth  1  may 
not  see  thy  face  again ;  but  go.' " 

Says  Emerson  in  his  "Nature":  "  Some  qualities  she 
carefully  fixes  and  transmutes,  but  some  and  those  the 
finer,  she  exhales  with  the  health  of  the  individual  as 
too  costly  to  perpetuate.  But  1  notice  also  that  they 
may  become  fixed  and  permanent  in  any  stock  by 
painting  and  repainting  them, —  in  every  individual, — 
until  at  last  Nature  adopts  them  and  bakes  them  in  her 
porcelain."  If  the  virtues  and  qualities  of  parents  are 
to  reappear  in  their  children,  what  good  results  may  we 
not  expect  from  a  young  man  who  starts  in  life  gifted 
with  so  rich  an  inheritance?  The  after  record  will 
show  us  that  the  son  did  honor  to  so  noble  an  ancestrv. 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       31 
HIS  EDUCATION. 

"William  was  sixteen  years  of  age  when  his  father 
died.  The  mother  for  prudential  considerations  resolves 
to  go  to  Herborn,  a  village  containing  about  twenty- 
five  hundred  inhabitants,  and  located  about  three 
miles  south  of  Dillenburg.  It  was  the  seat  of  a  cele- 
brated Eeformed  school  which  had  been  founded  in 
15S4:.  The  school  consisted  of  the  pedagogium,  made 
up  of  five  different  classes,  and  the  academy.  In  the 
former,  each  class  had  its  own  teacher,  and  the  pupils 
studied  logic,  mathematics,  philosophy,  and  Greek  and 
Roman  literature.  Having  graduated  from  this,  they 
passed  into  the  academy,  where  medicine,  law,  and 
theology  were  taught.  Most  of  the  students  seem  to 
have  given  attention  to  the  theological  course,  which 
occupied  three  years.  The  students  preached  each 
week  before  the  professors.  Special  theological  tenets 
were  not  pressed  very  much,  yet  the  school  was  moder- 
ately Calvinistic.  Into  such  a  school  as  this  came 
Philip  William  Otterbein  as  a  student  in  1742. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  influences  of  the  home 
life  in  determining  our  after  career  are  the  associations 
of  our  school  days.  His  fellows  will  leave  upon  a 
student  influences  which  will  help  or  hinder  him  in 
the  work  of  life.  All  the  elements  of  his  nature  will  be 
drawn  out  to  meet  the  friendly  help  offered  b}^  these 
young  men,  or  to  protect  himself  from  their  evil  associa- 
tions. Most  of  them  are  preparing  themselves  for  the 
ministry,  but  many  of  them  most  likely  as  a  mere  busi- 
ness and  not  in  obedience  to  any  divine  call,  and  there- 
fore they  will  not  be  spiritually  helpful  to  him.  Yet 
even  in  contact  with  these,  lessons  will  be  learned  which 
may  be  of  help  in  after  life.     This  will  be  especially 


32  PHILIP  AVILLIAM   OTTEEBEIN, 

true  if  any  bad  example  which  tliey  may  show  shall  be 
counteracted  by  faithful  teaching  which  shall  hold  up 
before  this  young  student  the  true  idea  of  a  Christian 
life,  and  the  work  of  the  Christian  minister.  In  this 
respect  our  young  student  was  very  fortunate.  One  of 
his  teachers,  and  one  who  exerted  a  healthful  influence 
over  him  was  Dr.  John  Henry  Schramm.  He  was  a 
preceptor  in  Herborn  in  ITOl ;  was  pastor  at  Dillen- 
burg  in  1Y07,  and  made  theological  professor  at  Her- 
born in  1709.  Dr.  Valentine  Arnold  was  born  at  Dil- 
lenberg,  and  felt  a  special  attachment  to  Philip  "William 
Otterbein,  because  of  the  instructions  which  he  had 
received  from  his  father  when  he  had  charge  of  the 
Latin  school.  These  were  both  able  scholars ;  men  of 
warm  hearts  as  well  as  cultured  minds,  and  interested 
in  general  church  work,  and  in  all  forms  of  practical, 
active  Christianity.  From  these  two  men  perhaps  more 
than  from  any  others,  he  received  the  inspiration  which 
led  him  across  the  ocean  to  bear  the  glad  tidings  of 
salvation  to  his  German  brethren  who  had  sought  a 
home  in  the  wilds  of  the  western  continent. 

CALLED   TO    THE   MINISTRY. 

Having  completed  his  course  of  study  in  Herborn, 
the  young  man  is  turning  toward  the  gospel  ministry. 
He  has  left  no  writings  which  would  let  us  into  the  ex- 
periences of  his  spiritual  nature  at  this  time ;  but  it  is 
safe  to  conclude  that  the  earnest  wish  of  his  mother, 
perhaps  the  example  and  teaching  of  his  now  lamented 
father,  and  above  all  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
led  him  along  this  path.  While  waiting  for  a  call  to 
some  congregation  he  taught  for  a  time  in  the  county 
of  Berg.  In  1748  he  became  preacher  in  the  Herborn 
school.     Having  been  examined  May  6,  1748,  by  the 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  TIiE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       3?> 

Herborn  faculty  lie  becomes  a  candidate.  He  is  now 
but  twenty -two  years  of  age.  In  1749,  June  13,  he 
was  ordained  in  tlie  city  church  at  Dillenburg.  The 
following  is  the  certificate  of  ordination  given  by  Dr. 
Schramm  when  Otterbein  was  about  to  become  a  mis- 
sionary : 
"  To  tJie  Reader^  Greeting : 

"  The  reverend  and  very  learned  young  man,  Philip 
William  Otterbein,  from  Dillenburg,  in  Nassau,  a  can- 
didate of  the  holy  ministry  and  a  teacher  of  the  third 
class  in  this  school,  received  by  me,  assisted  by  CI. 
Arnold,  prof essoi*  and  first  pastor  of  the  congregation 
at  Herborn,  and  by  the  Reverend  Ivlingelhoefer,  second 
pastor  of  the  same  church,  on  the  13th  day  of  June, 
174:9,  the  right  of  ordination  by  the  laying  on  of  hands, 
that  he  might  perform  the  functions  of  vicar  in  the 
congregation  at  Ockersdorf.  This  I  certify  at  his  re- 
quest ;  and  to  my  much  esteemed  former  hearer,  who 
is  now  about  to  emigrate  to  foreign  shores,  I  earnestly 
wisli  all  good  fortune  and  a  prosperous  voyage,  and 
subscribe  this  letter  as  a  testimonial  of  my  never  fail- 
ing affection  toward  him. 

[seal.]  "  John  Henry  Schramm, 

Doctor  of  Theology  and  Stqyerintendent  of  the  Church 

at  JVassau. 
"  Herborn,  February  28,  1752." 

Ockersdorf  was  a  village  containing  about  two  hun- 
dred people,  and  located  a  short  distance  from  Her- 
born. His  increased  income  enabled  him  to  aid  the 
other  members  of  the  family  in  securing  their  educa- 
tion. A  young  man  so  well  endowed,  so  well  cultured, 
and  so  thoroughly  competent,  should  have  had  a  cor- 
dial welcome ;  but  the  preaching  which  he  gave  was 


34  PHILIP   WILLIAM  OTTERBEIN, 

not  what  the  people  wanted.  Says  Spayth,  p.  19: 
"  His  zeal,  his  devotion,  the  earnestness  with  which  he 
met  these  new  duties,  surprised  his  friends  and  aston- 
ished his  hearers.  In  reproof  he  spared  neither  rank 
nor  class.  While  some  approved  and  encouraged  the 
young  preacher,  others  would  say  'No, —  such  a  ser- 
mon, such  burning  words,  and  from  so  young  a  minis- 
ter,' etc.,  etc.  His  friends  advised  him  to  speak  more 
calmly,  to  moderate  his  voice,  his  fervency,  etc.,  etc., 
etc.  Opposition  and  clamor,  however,  had  but  a  tend- 
ency to  add  force  to  his  arguments  in  directing  his 
hearers  from  a  cold  formalit}^  to  the  life  and  power  of 
our  holy  religion." 

From  which  of  these  places  the  opposition  came  we 
do  not  know.  The  condition  of  religion  was  sufficiently 
low  at  either  place  no  doubt  to  have  awakened  opposi- 
tion against  one  who  was  not  preaching  simply  per- 
functor}'-  sermons,  but  was  preaching  as  one  sent  of 
God,  to  call  formal  Christians  as  well  as  sinners  to  a 
better  life,  and  who  expected  sooner  or  later  to  give 
account  of  his  teaching.  "The  high  in  power,  and 
from  whose  decision  there  was  no  earthly  appeal, 
united  their  authority  with  those  who  felt  themselves 
too  sharply  reproved,  and  dropped  some  hints  concern- 
ing the  danger  of  incurring  their  displeasure,  recom- 
mending at  the  same  time  a  more  reserved  mode  of 
preaching.  To  these  Mr.  Otterbein  paid  no  attention 
at  the  time ;  he  rather  waxed  strong  in  spirit  and  love 
of  preaching  Christ.  His  mother  saw  the  storm 
gathering  and  said  to  him,  "  You  must  be  a  mission- 
ary." "  But  missionary  where  ?  To  what  land,  what 
people,  mother,  shall  I  go?"  She  would  quietly  an- 
swer, "  Be  patient,  preach  us  another  sermon,  wait  the 


FIKST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      35 

Lord's  time  " —  and  it  came  sooner  than  they  expected. 

In  1746  the  sj^nods  of  Holland  had  sent  Rev.  Mich- 
ael Schlatter,  of  St.  Gall,  vSwitzerland,  as  a  missionary 
to  the  German  Reformed  emigrants  in  Pennsylvania. 
As  the  Germans  were  not  able  materially  to  assist  these 
brethren  in  the  new  world,  the  Hollanders  generously 
proffered  aid.  After  five  years  of  service  in  America, 
Schlatter  returned  and  asked  for  more  men  and  more 
money.  He  was  cordially  received  and  favorably  heard 
by  the  Hollanders  at  Amsterdam,  and  sent  to  Germany 
to  get  further  aid  and  to  secure  six  young  men  as  mis- 
sionaries. Mr.  Schlatter  appeared  at  Herborn  and  was 
aided  in  his  work  b}^  the  faculty  at  that  place.  Mr. 
Schramm  writes  in  the  records  of  the  academy  at  that 
place,  February  25, 1T52:  "Rev.  Schlatter  handed  me 
the  list  of  candidates  whom  he  desires  to  take  along 
with  him  to  Pennsylvania,  and  prays  that  we  give 
them  a  general  academical  testimonial.  Shall  the}'' 
have  such  ?  "  Under  it  writes  Dr.  John  E.  Ran :  "  Yes, 
I  hope  there  is  no  one  that  would  not  rather  see  the 
ministers  deserving  this  recommendation  advanced  to 
work  in  a  foreign  land  than  in  their  home  country." 
The  following  testimonial  was  given  to  Mr.  Otterbein : 

"  To  the  Reader,  Greeting  : 

"  The  bearer  of  this,  the  truly  reverend  and  very 
learned  Mr.  Philip  William  Otterbein,  an  ordained  can- 
didate of  the  holy  ministry,  hitherto  preceptor  in  this 
pedagogium,  and  now  called  as  a  preacher  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  born  June  -i,  1T2(),  in  the  morning  l)etween 
two  and  three  o'clock,  at  Dillenburg,  of  honorable 
parents,  belonging  to  the  Evangelical  Reformed  church, 
and  was  baptized  June  6.  His  father  was  the  right 
reverend  and  very  learned  Mr.  John  Daniel  Otterbein, 


36  PHILIP  AVILLIAM  OTTERBEIN, 

formerly  the  highly  esteemed  rector  of  the  Latin  school 
at  Dillenburf^,  but  afterwards  a  faithful,  zealous  preacher 
to  the  congregation  at  Frohnhausen,  "Wissenbach,  and 
who  departed  from  time  into  eternity  November  16, 
1742.  His  mother  is  the  right  noble  and  very  virtuous 
woman,  "Wilhelmina  Henrietta,  her  maiden  name  being 
Hoerlen.  She  is  alone  at  this  time  as  a  widow.  His 
godfather  was  Mr.  Philip  William  Keller,  stew^ard  to 
the  Court  of  Nassau,  Dillenburg,  who  was  a  near  rela- 
tive. The  truly  reverend  Philip  William  Otterbein  was 
well  raised  in  the  Eeformed  Christian  religion,  and 
then  received  as  a  member  of  the  church.  He  has 
always  lived  an  honest,  pious  and  Christian  life ;  and 
not  only  by  much  preaching  and  faithful  declaring  of 
the  word  of  God  in  this  city,  as  also  at  a  near  affiliating 
town  where  he  had  been  vicar  for  a  "Considerable  time, 
and  at  other  places,  but  also  by  his  godly  life  has  he 
built  up  the  church. 

"  Therefore  to  this  end  we  commend  him  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Almighty,  whose  care  and  leading  we 
pray  upon  him  hence,  and  we  pray  tha,t  He  may  give 
him  much  grace  from  above  and  the  richest  divine 
blessing  in  the  work  to  which  he  has  been  called  and 
to  which  he  is  willing  to  go,  and  we  wish  him  from  the 
bottom  of  our  souls  success. 

"  So  done  at  Herborn,  in  the  principality  of  Nassau, 
Dillenburg,  February  26,  1752. 

"  V.  Arnold,  Professor  and  First  Pastor.'''' 

The  mother  wished  her  son  to  go  as  a  missionary, 
but  when  the  hour  of  parting  came  it  was  no  easy  thing 
to  give  him  up.  With  a  conMent  trust  in  Him  who 
controls  all  things,  she  said,  "go."  Mr.  Schlatter  and 
his  young  missionaries  first  went  to  Holland,  where 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BEETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.      37 

they  were  to  secure  their  outfit  and  take  passage.  One 
of  the  original  number  finally  declines  to  go,  and  a 
young  man  from  Berg  takes  his  place.  The  associates 
of  Otterbein  were  William  Stoy,  John  Waldschmidt, 
Theodore  Frankenfeld,  John  Casper  Rubel,  and  Wissler, 
from  Berg.  They  pass  an  examination  at  The  Hague, 
and  are  formally  set  apart  for  the  mission  work.  They 
were  to  be  "orthodox,  learned,  pious,  and  of  humble 
disposition ;  diligent,  sound  in  body,  and  eagerly  desir- 
ous, not  after  earthly  but  heavenly  treasures,  especially 
the  salvation  of  immortal  souls."  The  marriage  fees, 
house  rent,  and  such  resources  as  they  should  receive  in 
America,  would  amount  possibly  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars,  and  the  remainder  of  their  expenses  would 
be  borne  by  the  devoted  Hollanders.  "  But  from  Switz- 
erland, the  Palatinate,  and  even  England,  generous 
contributions  came.  They  sailed  from  Holland  toward 
the  last  of  March,  and  on  the  night  preceding  the  28th 
of  July,  1T52,  they  landed  in  New  York,  having  been 
nearly  four  months  in  making  the  voyage.  They  were 
met  on  the  next  day  after  their  arrival  by  John  M. 
Muhlenberg,  an  eminent  missionary  of  the  Lutheran 
church,  who  quoted  to  them  the  language  of  the  Master, 
"  Behold,  I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of 
wolves ;  be  ye  therefore  wise  as  serpents  and  harmless 
as  doves." 

A   FOKEIGN    MISSIONAEY. 

For  a  long  time  Germany  had  been  the  battlefield 
of  Europe,  and  it  seemed  as  if  there  would  be  no  end  to 
it.  "  A  generation  had  grown  up  which  was  rude  and 
ignorant.  Fortunately  parents  regarded  it  as  a  religious 
duty  to  teach  their  children  to  read  the  Bible  and  the 
catechism,  and  perhaps  to  write  a  little;  but   be3'ond 


38  PHILIP    WILLIAM    OTTERBEIN, 

this  point  their  knowledge  rarely  extended."  Says 
Loher,  "  The  government  cared  nothing  for  the  people, 
and  almost  everywhere  the  religious  party  which  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  majority  opposed  dissenters.  This 
state  of  things  was  w^orst  in  the  Palatinate,  w^here  the 
electors  had  changed  their  religion  four  times  in  as 
many  reigns.  The  whole  country  was  compelled  to 
follow  the  example  of.its  rulers,  and  whoever  was  not 
willing  to  accommodate  himself  to  this  state  of  affairs 
could  not  do  better  than  to  take  up  his  pilgrim's  staff 
and  leave  his  native  land." 

Louis  XII.,  to  protect  France,  proceeded  to  make  a 
desert  of  the  valley  of  the  Rhine.  Many  of  its  cities 
were  burned,  and  others  were  devastated.  In  the  dead 
of  winter  the  people  were  turned  out  of  their  houses, 
which  were  immediately  burned.  Thousands  of  peo- 
ple were  rendered  homeless.  They  wandered  in  field 
and  forest  and  many  of  them  died  from  starvation. 
Many  arrived  in  Holland  utterly  destitute,  and  the 
people  with  the  government  did  all  they  could  to  keep 
them.  The  Queen  of  England  offered  to  find  a  home 
for  them  in  America,  and  in  one  winter  as  many  as 
thirty  thousand  left  their  native  land  and  encamped 
about  London.  Some  of  them  Avere  returned,  while 
others  settled  in  Ireland  and  elsewhere.  The  large 
majority  came  to  America  and  settled  here.  "In 
Pennsylvania  they  found  a  permanent  home  ;  here  they 
prospered  and  finally  passed  beyond  its  borders  and 
occupied  large  portions  of  adjacent  colonies.  Large 
numbers  of  Swiss  followed  them.  Some  of  them  had 
means,  while  others  were  very  poor;  but  all  of  them 
were  frugal  and  industrious." 

Mr.  Schlatter  and  his  missionaries  went  from  Kew 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      39 

York  to  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Otterbein  received  a  call 
from  the  Reformed  congregation  at  Lancaster,  and  he 
accepted.  An  engagement  was  made  for  five  years 
between  liimself  and  the  congregation .  He  entered  upon 
his  duties  in  August,  1752,  being  in  the  twenty-seventh 
year  of  his  age,  and  full  of  vigor  and  zeal.  The  coun- 
try was  now  unbroken  and  thinly  settled.  Lancaster 
was  the  principal  town  west  of  Philadelphia ;  yet  in 
1751,  a  year  previous  to  this,  it  contained  only  about 
five  hundred  houses  and  two  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  congregation  had  not  been  a  very  successful  one. 
There  had  been  frequent  vacancies  in  the  pastorate, 
and  at  this  time  it  had  been  without  a  pastor  for  more 
than  a  year.  He  had  many  discouragements,  yet  con- 
siderable success.  "Previous  to  this  time,  its  histor}' 
was  somewhat  fragmentary  and  weak.  He  was  the 
instrument  by  which  its  strength  was  concentrated  and 
made  permanent.  Under  his  ministry  the  small  old 
wooden  church  was  superseded  by  a  massive  stone 
church.  Internally  the  congregation  greatly  prospered. 
Evidences  of  his  order  and  zeal  look  out  upon  us  from 
the  records  in  many  ways,  and  enterprises  started  in 
his  time  have  extended  their  results,  in  the  permanent 
features  of  the  congregations  down  to  this  dav." — liar- 
haugh. 

This  churcn,  made  up  as  it  no  doubt  was,  not  only 
of  those  who  were  genuine  Christians  but  of  many  others 
whose  relations  were  merely  nominal,  must  have  made 
it  more  or  less  unpleasant  for  a  man  like  Otterbein,  who 
sought  to  give  full  proof  of  his  ministr3\  "  He  com- 
plained of  many  grievances  which  made  his  ministry 
unhappy ;  and  demanded  as  the  condition  of  his  con- 
tinuance the  exercise  of  just  ecclesiastical  discipline,  the 


40  PHILIP  WILLIAM  OTTEKBEIN, 

abolition  of  all  inordinacies  and  entire  liberty  of  con- 
science in  the  performance  of  his  pastoral  duties."  All 
this  having  been  conceded,  he  resumed  his  work,  reserv- 
ing the  right  to  resign  when  he  desired,  as  he  wished 
once  more  to  visit  his  native  land. 

A  paper  in  Otterbein's  hand- writing  and  signed  by- 
eighty  male  members  of  the  church,  without  any  date, 
is  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  church  at  Lancaster. 
This  no  doubt  grew  out  of  the  action  which  he  saw 
necessary  to  take  to  promote  the  highest  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  the  church. 

"  Inasmuch  as  for  some  time  matters  in  our  church 
have  proceeded  somewhat  irregularly,  and  since  we  in 
these  circumstances  do  not  correctly  know  who  are 
they  that  acknowledge  themselves  to  be  members  of 
our  church,  especially  among  those  who  reside  out  of 
town,  we,  the  members  and  officers  of  this  cliurch, 
have  taken  this  matter  into  consideration,  and  find  it 
necessary  to  request  that  every  one  who  calls  himself  a 
member  of  our  church,  and  who  is  concerned  to  lead  a 
Christian  life,  should  come  forward  and  subscribe  to  the 
following  rules  of  order : 

"First  of  all,  it  is  proper  that  those  who  profess 
themselves  members  should  subject  themselves  to  a 
becoming  church  discipline,  according  to  the  order  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  thus  to  show  respectful 
obedience  to  members  and  officers  in  all  things  that  are 
proper. 

"  Secondly  :  To  the  end  that  all  disorder  may  be 
prevented  and  that  each  member  may  be  more  fully 
known,  each  one,  without  exception,  who  desires  to 
receive  the  Lord's  supper,  shall,  previously  to  the  ])rep- 
aration  service,  upon  a  day  appointed  for  that  purpose, 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.       41 

personally  appear  before  the  minister,  that  an  interview 
may  be  held. 

"  'No  one  will  by  this  arrangement  be  deprived  of 
his  liberty,  or  be  in  any  way  bound  oppressively.  This 
we  deem  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  order ;  and  it 
is  our  desire  that  God  may  bless  it  to  this  end.  Who- 
soever is  truly  concerned  to  grow  in  grace  will  not  hesi- 
tate to  subscribe  his  name." 

The  practice  here  introduced  by  Otterbein  of  giving 
the  pastor  an  opportunity  to  meet  each  communicant 
before  partaking  of  the  Lord's  supper  continued  in  this 
congregation  for  a  period  of  seventy-five  years.  Dur- 
ing the  week  previous  to  communion  the  members 
called  at  the  parsonage  and  left  their  names  as  commu- 
nicants. The  pastor  was  thus  enabled  to  give  such 
advice  and  counsel  as  the  several  cases  might  require. 

During  his  stay  in  Lancaster,  possibly  during  the 
year  1754,  he  had  a  remarkable  religious  experience. 
Having  preached  an  earnest  sermon  on  repentance  and 
faith,  one  of  his  hearers,  awakened  to  a  sense  of  his 
condition,  came  to  him  for  advice.  For  some  unaccount- 
able reason  this  minister  of  tlie  gospel  knew  not  what 
to  say  to  this  awakened  sinner.  His  reply  was,  "  My 
friend,  advice  is  scarce  with  me  to-day."  He  sought 
his  closet  and  poured  out  his  soul  to  God,  and  did  not 
leave  it  until  he  had  that  knowledge  of  spiritual  things 
which  m  after  years  made  him  so  competent  to  give 
advice  to  those  who  were  seeking  the  way  of  life. 
Whatever  we  may  think  of  this  new  experience  to 
Otterbein  himself  it  was  very  remarkable.  When 
Bishop  Asbury  said  to  him,  "  By  what  means  were  you 
brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  gospel  and  our  blessed 
Savior?"   he   answered,   "  By  degrees   was  I  brought 


42  PHILIP  WILLIAM  OTTERBEIN, 

to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  while  I  was  at  Lancas- 
ter." "  His  own  calm  judgment  near  the  close  of  his 
life  went  back  tenderlj'^  and  gratefully  to  the  period  of 
liis  ministry  at  Lancaster  as  including  the  dawn  of  this 
conscious  spiritual  life."  Ever  after  he  preached  this 
conscious  experience  as  the  privilege  of  all  Christian 
people.  Was  not  this  the  tnne,  Avhen,  without  neglect- 
ing the  externalities  of  Christianity,  special  attention 
be  called  to  tiiis  new  experience  of  full  assurance, 
guaranteed  to  us  when  the  soul  stands  acquitted  in  the 
presence  of  its  King?  And  was  not  this  the  man  called 
of  God  to  press  it  u»pon  tlie  attention  of  a  people  who 
had  grown  up  in  a  state  church  and  had  in  good  part 
lost  siglit  of  the  essentials  of  piety  ? 

Wlicn  Otterbein  resigned  his  charge  at  Lancaster  in 
1T5S  he  intended  to  return  to  Europe,  but  the  way  not 
opening  up,  he  temporarily  took  charge  of  the  Re- 
formed church  at  Tulpehocken.  This  section  was 
inhabited  for  the  most  part  by  those  whom  the  English 
queen  had  sent  over  in  1710.  The  settlement  was 
Avithin  what  is  now  known  as  Berks  and  Lebanon  coun- 
ties. After  Braddock's  defeat  in  1755,  no  frontier  set- 
tlement escaped  the  vengeance  of  the  natural  savage. 
A  letter  Avritten  in  1755  by  a  resident  of  Tulpehocken 
show^s  something  of  the  dangers  to  which  the  people 
were  exposed.  "  My  company  had  now  increased  to 
about  three  hundred  men ;  most  were  armed,  although 
about  twenty  men  had  nothing  but  axes  and  pitchforks. 
All  unanimously  agreed  to  die  together,  and  to  engage 
the  enemy  wherever  Ave  should  meet  them,  and  so 
obstruct  their  Avay  of  marching  further  into  the  inhab- 
ited parts,  till  others  of  our  brethren  could  come  up  and 
do  the  same,  and  so  save  the  lives  of  our  Avives  and  our 
children." 


tIKST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST,       43 

The  people  of  Tulpehocken  stood  very  vigorously 
for  the  old  land-marks  as  they  understood  them,  and 
had  no  sympathy  with  innovators.  "As  is  often  the 
case  in  their  zeal  to  keep  fanatics  out  of  their  circle, 
they  were  not  so  diligent  as  they  should  have  been  to 
cherish  the  true  Christian  spirit  wiihinP 

"When  at  Lancaster,  as  shown  elsewhere,  his  spiritual 
nature  had  been  especially  touched,  and  the  peculiar 
condition  of  the  people  here  as  well  as  the  difficulties 
surrounding  him  would  only  make  him  the  more  anx- 
ious for  their  welfare.  He  preached  on  week  days,  on 
Sundays,  and  in  addition,  established  evening  meetings 
for  prayer  and  religious  instruction.  "  On  these  occa- 
sions his  custom  was  to  read  a  portion  of  Scripture,  make 
some  practical  remarks  on  the  same,  and  exhort  all 
present  to  give  place  to  serious  reflections.  He  would 
then  sing  a  sacred  hymn,  and  invite  all  to  accompany 
him  in  prayer.  At  first,  and  for  some  time,  but  few,  if 
any,  would  kneel,  and  he  was  permitted  to  pray  alone. 
*  *  After  prayer  he  would  endeavor  to  gain  access 
to  their  hearts  by  addressing  them  individually  with 
words  of  kindness  and  love."  *  Some  Avere  awakened 
and  saved,  while  others  mocked. 

When  Mr.  Otterbein's  heart  was  being  cheered  with 
the  blessed  results  which  were  sure  to  follow,  and  which 
did  follow  such  efforts,  their  propriety  was  questioned 
by  those  who  were  more  conservative  and  less  spiritual. 
"  What  does  this  mean,"  said  some ;  "  the  minister  and 
men  and  women  kneel  and  pray,  and  weep,  and  call 
upon  God  for  Jesus  sake  to  have  mercy  upon  them. 
Who  ever  heard  of  such  proceedings  ? "  Yet  the  good 
work  was  begun,  and  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of 

*Spayth:  pp.23,  24. 


44  PHILIP  WlLLLlAM  OTTERBEIN, 

both  members  and  preachers,  these  meetings  brought 
much  joy  and  comfort  to  the  earnest-hearted  believer 
in  Jesus  Christ. 

PASTOR   AT    FREDERICK. 

In  1760  Mr.  Otterbein  accepted  a  call  from  the 
Reformed  church  at  Frederick,  Md.  The  church  at 
this  time  numbered  about  two  hundred  communicants. 
It  had  been  served  previous  to  this  time  by  Rev,  Theo- 
dore Frankenfeld,  one  of  the  six  young  missionaries, 
and  by  tlie  Rev.  John  C.  Steiner,  wlio  had  left  it  some- 
what irregularly.  Mr.  Schlatter  writes  in  1747:  "I 
must  say  of  this  congregation  that  it  appears  to  me  to 
be  of  the  first  in  the  whole  land,  and  one  in  which  I 
have  found  the  most  traces  of  the  true  fear  of  God ; 
one  that  is  free  from  the  sects  of  which  in  other  places 
the  country  is  so  full." 

His  labors  here  as  elsewhere  were  owned  and  blessed 
of  Heaven,  and  the  church  prospered.  Dr.  Daniel  Zach- 
arias,  pastor  at  Frederick  from  1835  to  1873,  in  a 
centenary  sermon  preached  in  1847,  says  of  Mr.  Otter- 
bein: "During  Mr.  Otterbein's  labors  in  Frederick, 
the  church  in  which  we  now  worship  was  built;  also 
the  parsonage  which  has  been  the  successive  residence 
of  your  pastors  ever  since.  Many  other  improvements 
in  the  external  condition  of  this  congregation  were 
likewise  made  during  this  period,  thus  showing  that  Mr. 
Otterbein  was  not  only  a  very  pious  and  devoted  pastor, 
but  was  also  most  energetic  and  efficient  in  promoting 
the  outward  prosperity  of  the  church." 

But  it  was  not  all  smooth  sailing  even  in  so  pleasant 
a  sea  as.  this.  Persons  who  have  no  stronger  claim  to 
an  inheritance  among  the  saints  than  that  their  parents 
were  church  members,  and  that  thev  themselves  had 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHEIST.      45 

been  baptized,  would  not  look  with  much  favor  upon  a 
pastor  whose  catholic  spirit  would  allow  him  to  extend 
the  hand  of  fellowship  to  Christians  of  all  denomina- 
tions, and  associate  with  those  irregular  preachers 
whom  the  Lord  had  raised  up  to  proclaim  His  truth. 
At  the  same  time  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  same  liberal 
spirit  which  would  not  elsewhere  be  bound  by  any 
improper  bonds,  would  give  a  prominent  place  to  his 
prayer-meeting  and  to  lay  cooperation  in  his  new  field 
of  labor. 

"  At  one  time  the  excitement  became  so  great  that 
a  majority  of  the  church  determined  on  his  summary 
dismission ;  and  to  effect  it  most  speedily  they  locked 
the  church  doors  against  him.  On  the  following  Sab- 
bath, when  the  congregation  assembled,  his  adherents, 
knowing  that  he  had  a  legal  right  to  the  pulpit,  were 
disposed  to  force  the  doors  ;  but  he  said  to  them :  '  Not 
so,  brethren  ;  if  I  am  not  permitted  to  enter  the  church 
peaceably,  I  can  and  will  preach  here  in  the  graveyard.' 
So  saying,  he  took  his  stand  upon  one  of  the  tomb- 
stones, proceeded  with  the  regular  introductory  sermon 
in  his  usual  fervent  spirit,  delivered  a  sermon  of  remark- 
able power,  and  at  its  close  announced  preaching  for 
the  same  place  on  the  succeeding  Sabbath.  At  the 
time  appointed  an  unusually  large  concourse  assembled, 
and  as  he  was  about  to  commence  the  services  again 
under  the  canopy  of  the  heavens,  the  person  who  had 
the  key  of  the  church  door  hastily  opened  it,  saying : 
'  Come  in,  come  in,  I  can  stand  this  no  longer  ! ' " 

In  1763  he  received  a  call  to  the  Reformed  church 
at  Philadelphia,  which  he  was  urged  to  accept,  but  cir- 
cumstances beyond  his  control  prevented.     The  church 


46  PHILIP  WILLIAM  OTTERBEINj 

where  he  was  now  laboring  was  not  willing  to  give  him 
up.  He  himself  says :  "The  people  allege  that  they 
on  my  account  have  incurred  unusual  expenses,  and 
that  they  next  year  will  build  a  new  church  ;  also  that 
if  I  leave  them  the  church  may  not  be  built,  and  that 
the  present  debts  may  rest  upon  a  few,  and  that 
furthermore  my  going  would  surely  cause  disturbance, 
and  give  offense."  He  agreed,  however,  to  go  in 
another  year  if  the  way  should  open ;  but  in  the  mean- 
time it  was  found  possible  to  secure  Dr.  Weyberg  as 
pastor,  and  he  was  chosen. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1762,  Mr.  Otterbein  was  mar- 
ried in  Lancaster,  Pa.,  to  Miss  Susan  Le  Roy ;  Rev. 
"William  Stoy  performed  the  ceremony.  Miss  Le  Roy 
was  of  Huguenot  descent,  and  therefore  of  strong 
Protestant  proclivities,  as  was  her  father's  family.  Mr. 
Otterbein  became  acquainted  with  her  while  at  Lan- 
caster. After  leaving  there  he  had  spent  two  years  at 
Tulpehocken,  and  the  remainder  of  the  time  intervening 
before  he  came  to  claim  his  bride  had  been  spent  at 
Frederick.  He  w^as  now  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and 
she  twenty-six.  She  lived  but  six  years  after  her  mar- 
riage, and  died  April  27,  1768,  aged  thirty-two  years 
and  five  months.  She  was  buried  at  Lancaster.  No 
children  were  left  of  this  marriage.  At  the  death  of 
her  father  she  had  brought  to  her  husband  about  one 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  "  It  is  a  beautiful  tra- 
dition that,  only  two  days  before  his  death,  he  requested 
a  friend  to  bring  a  pocket-book,  made  by  the  tender 
hands  so  long  motionless  in  death,  and  that,  gazing 
upon  the  carefully  preserved  keepsake,  he  kissed  it 
with  all  the  fondness  of  a  youthful  lover."  —  Drury. 

In  September,  1765,  he  took  charge  of  the  church 


FIRST  BISHOr  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       4Y 

at  York,  which  for  two  years  had  been  without  a  set- 
tled pastor.  The  church  was  not  in  the  best  condition, 
owing  to  the  imprudent  conduct  of  the  former  pastor. 
His  congregation  was  important,  and  he  did  his  work 
faithfully.  Imbued  with  a  catholic,  missionary  spirit, 
he  traveled  and  preached  elsewhere  quite  extensively. 
One  of  the  meetings  which  he  attended  has  become 
historic.  Martin  Boehm,  a  Mennonite  minister,  had 
appointed  a  meeting  at  Isaac  Long's,  some  six  miles 
northeast  from  Lancaster.  Otterbein  and  Boehm  had 
never  before  met.  The  great  gulf  existing  between  the 
Reformed  and  Mennonite  churches  may  have  accounted 
for  this.  The  large  barn  would  not  hold  the  people. 
"  There  were  in  attendance  members  of  the  Lutheran, 
German  Reformed,  Mennonite,  Dunkers,  and  otlier 
churches,  with  others  who  were  not  church  members  at 
all.  Boehm  preached  to  the  people.  lie  was  a  man  of 
medium  size,  wore  his  beard  long,  and  was  dressed  in 
the  Mennonite  costume.  Otterbein  was  a  man  of  com- 
manding appearance,  large  in  figure  and  clad  in  the 
usual  clerical  dress.  Their  church  connections  would 
tend  to  separate,  while  their  Christian  spirit  would 
bring  them  more  and  more  together.  The  preacher 
with  great  force  made  known  to  the  people  the  truths 
of  the  gospel  which  had  lately  come  to  him  with  a  fresh 
clearness  and  renewed  power.  As  Otterbein  listened 
he  discerned  a  kindred  spirit ;  one  which  had  under- 
gone the  trials  through  which  he  had  passed  and  had 
come  into  the  clear  light  of  sins  forgiven.  As  the 
preacher  was  about  to  sit  down  the  great  heart  of  Otter- 
bein opened  to  take  in  this  sweet,  spiritual  man,  and, 
clasping  him  in  his  arms,  he  exclaimed:  'We  are 
brethren ! '     The  effect  for  the  moment  was  startling. 


4:8  PHILIP    WILLIAM   OTTEKBEIN, 

Unable  to  restrain  their  emotions,  some  of  the  congrega- 
tion praised  the  Lord  aloud,  but  the  greater  part  were 
bathed  in  tears,  and  all  hearts  seemed  melted  into  one." 
This  meeting  occurred  probably  about  1T66,  and  was 
the  chief  starting-point  of  a  movement  which  culmi- 
nated in  a  new  religious  organization,  and  more  than  any 
other  one,  perhaps,  suggested  the  name  United  Brethren. 
In  April,  1Y70,  Otterbein  visited  his  friends  and  rela- 
tives in  Germany.  He  had  leave  of  absence  from  his 
church  at  York,  and  while  absent  his  pulpit  was  sup- 
plied by  other  ministers.  Eighteen  years  had  passed 
since  he  had  left  his  friends  and  associates  behind  him 
in  order  to  become  a  missionary  in  America.  His 
mother,  five  brothers  and  a  sister  were  still  living. 
George,  who  lived  at  Duisberg,  was  probably  the  first 
one  met.  They  revealed  to  each  other  the  experiences 
through  which  they  had  passed  since  their  separation. 
As  William  told  his  story  George  was  very  much 
affected,  and,  with  tears  streaming  down  his  cheeks, 
embraced  his  brother  and  said :  "  My  dear  William, 
we  are  now,  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord,  not  only 
brothers  after  the  flesh,  but  also  after  the  spirit.  I  have 
also  experienced  the  same  blessing ;  I  can  testify  that 
God  has  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins  and  to  cleanse 
from  all  unrighteousness."  The  few  months  spent  here 
must  have  been  very  busy  and  pleasant  ones,  but  they 
passed  by,  and  our  missionary  must  once  more  turn  his 
face  toward  the  setting  sun.  His  brother  had  said  to 
him :  "  My  dear  brother,  I  have  a  very  strong  impres- 
sion that  God  has  a  great  work  for  you  to  do  in  Amer- 
ica." The  parting  hour  must  have  been  a  sad  one. 
The  mother  soon  after  died,  and  William  never  again 
saw  a  member  of  his  family.     He  reached  America 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      49 

safely  and  resumed  his  labors  at  York  as  well  as  his 
itinerant  preaching  in  the  country. 

In  the  year  1770  there  was  much  dissension  among 
the  members  of  the  German  Reformed  church  in  Bal- 
timore, and  complaints  were  made  against  the  pastor, 
Rev.  John  Christian  Faber,  Avhose  life  w^as  not  exem- 
plary. He  in  turn  made  complaint  against  his  oppo- 
nents, and  against  Rev.  Benedict  Schwope,  who  was 
preaching  near  Baltimore.  A  committee  of  investiga- 
tion was  appointed.  The  evangelical  part  of  the  congre- 
gation finally  withdrew  and  elected  Mr.  Schwope  as  their 
pastor.  Mr.  Schwope  and  his  adherents  bought  some 
Jots  and  erected  thereon  a  meeting-house.  The  synod 
put  forth  efforts  to  unite  the  congregation,  but  did  not 
succeed.  It  was  proposed  that  both  pastors  should 
resign  and  the  two  churches  should  unite  in  calling  a 
new  man,  but  this  failed.  In  1773  Mr.  Schwope  was 
anxious  to  withdraw,  and  a  call  was  extended  to  Otter- 
bein;  but  he  declined  in  view  of  the  unsettled  condition 
of  the  congregation.  He  finally  expressed  a  "willing- 
ness to  go  if  the  synod  should  approve.  They  did  not 
approve.  The  following  spring  he  was  again  called  and 
accepted.  He  was  indirectly  censured  by  the  synod, 
but  they  afterwards  voted  to  receive  the  congregation. 
This  was  really  an  independent  church  before  Mr.  Otter- 
bein  took  charge  of  it. 

The  name  assumed  was  "  The  German  Evangelical 
Reformed  Church,"  or  "The  Evangelical  Reformed 
Church."  The  term  evangelical  has  not  been  a  part  of 
the  title  of  the  German  Reformed  church,  and  its  selec- 
tion in  this  case  under  the  trying  circumstances  indi- 
cated a  purpose  and  intention  which  nothing  else  could 
have  so  well  expressed. 
3 


60  _        PHILir    WILLIAM    OTTERBEIN, 

February  3,  1774,  Mr.  Asbury  wrote  a  letter  to 
Otterbein,  whom  he  had  never  met,  urging  him  to  settle 
in  Baltimore.  Not  long  after  Mr.  Asbury  makes  this 
entry  in  his  journal :  "  On  Saturday  Mr.  Schwope 
came  to  consult  me  inresj)ect  to  Mr.  O.'s  coming  to  this 
town.  We  agreed  to  promote  his  settling  here  and  laid 
a  plan  nearly  similar  to  ours,  to-wit :  That  gifted  per- 
sons among  them  who  may  at  any  time  be  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  to  speak  for  God,  should  be  encouraged, 
and  if  the  synod  would  not  agree  thev  were  still  to  per- 
severe in  the  line  of  duty." 

Mr.  Jolm  Ilildt,  a  member  of  Mr.  Otterbein's  vestry 
as  early  as  1809,  and  a  faithful  friend,  says  in  a  letter 
}Hiblished  in  the  Telescope  July  28,  1858,  "  That  Otter- 
bein was  called  provided  he  would  consent  to  be,  or 
become,  independent  of  the  synod  of  the  German 
Reformed  cliurch,  and  when  he  learned  this  he  demanded 
of  them  three  days'  time  for  consideration,  at  the  expi- 
ration of  which  time  he  acceded.  Being  no  longer  tram- 
meled with  the  rules  and  discipline  of  the  German 
Reformed  church,  he  formed,  with  the  consent  of  his 
brethren,  a  new  set  of  rules  for  the  membership  of  his 
new  and  independent  church." 

The  independence  of  this  church  is  further  shown 
by  the  manner  in  which  the  church  property  was  held. 
The  deed  was  made  August  7,  1771,  to  three  men, 
not  in  trust,  as  is  usually  done,  but  to  themselves. 
These  in  turn  willed  their  share  to  others,  and  these  to 
others,  until  in  1702  it  was  deeded  to  William  Otter- 
bein, who  in  turn  bequeathed  it  to  Peter  Hoffman  and 
William  Baker,  "  Avho  should  take  all  legal  measures  to 
vest  the  said  property  in  the  elders,  trustees  and  mem- 
bers of  the  German  Evangelical  Reformed  church."     By 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.       51 

thus  keeping  the  property  in  their  own  hands  the}^ 
could  take  such  action  as  Providence  might  point  out 
to  them;  but  it  indicates  that  their  expectation  was 
from  the  beginning  an  independent  church. 

When  in  1840  it  was  sought  to  cany  the  property  over 
to  tlie  Reformed  congregation,  after  an  examination 
of  all  the  legal  papers  pertaining  thereto,  the  court  gave 
judgment  "  in  strong  and  decisive  terms ''  in  favor  of 
the  congregation. 

In  Griffith's  '*  Annals  of  Baltimore,"  published  in 
1822,  may  be  found  this  statement :  "  Several  members 
of  the  German  or  Dutch  Presbyterian  Society,  attached 
to  the  Eev.  William  Otterbein,  form  a  separate  religious 
society  which  they  distinguish  by  the  name  of  the 
German  Evangelical  Reformed  church,  and  they  pur- 
chased a  lot  where  their  present  church  is,  on  Conway 
street,  and  worship  in  a  small  house  there.'' 

In  1785  rules  for  the  government  of  the  church, 
written  by  Mr.  Otterbein  himself,  were  adopted, 
recorded  in  the  church  book,  and  signed  by  all  the 
members  of  the  church.  These  ^vere  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  a  church  discipline.  They  were  complete  in 
themselves,  and  in  spirit,  doctrine  and  methods  were  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  church  from  which  the  members 
had  separated.  The  reasons  for  not  putting  them  in 
this  form  earlier  are  given  in  the  preface :  "  Such  disci- 
plinary church  rules  as  were  needful  were  therefore 
from  time  to  time  adopted,  made  known,  and  the  impor- 
tance of  keeping  them  earnestly  enjoined.  Put  the 
afflicting  and  long  continued  war,  and  the  dispersion  on 
account  of  the  same,  of  many  of  its  members  into  the 
western  part  of  the  country,  prevented  these  I'ules  from 
being  written  in  a  book  form  for  their  preservation." 


52  PHILIP    WIIJ.IAM   OTTEKBEIN, 

Tliose  who  want  to  see  this  original  discipline  com- 
plete— which  afterwards  became  the  basis  of  the  United 
Brethren  church — will  find  it  in  Drury's  "  Life  of  Otter- 
bein,"  pages  173  to  182.  We  can  quote  but  three  of 
the  articles,  in  order  more  fully  to  show  the  spirit  of 
Otterbein,  and  why  he  and  his  people  could  no  longer 
remain  in  the  communion  of  the  Reformed  church: 

"  13.  No  preacher  can  stay  among  us  who  teaches 
the  doctrine  of  predestination,  or  the  impossibility  of 
falling  from  grace,  and  who  holdeth  these  as  doctrinal 
points. 

"  14.  Ko  preacher  can  stay  among  us  who  will  not 
to  the  best  of  his  ability  care  for  the  various  churches 
in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  which 
churches,  under  the  superintendence  of  William  Otter- 
bein,  stand  in  fraternal  unity  with  us. 

"15.  No  preacher  can  stay  among  us  who  shall 
refuse  to  sustain  with  all  diligence  such  members  as  have 
arisen  from  this  or  some  other  churches,  or  who  may 
yet  arise,  as  helpers  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  as  preachers 
and  exhorters,  so  long  as  their  lives  shall  be  according 
to  the  gospel." 

In  the  fourteenth  article  reference  is  made  to  the 
various  churches  m  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia, "that  stood  under  the  superintendence  of  William 
Otterbein."  The  fifteenth  article  refers  to  the 
"  preachers  and  exhorters  "  already  in  the  field.  What 
do  these  mean  ? 

LAY  PREACHERS. 

With  all  tlie  formalism  and  dead  orthodoxy  that 
prevailed  at  the  period  we  are  now  considering,  there 
was  now  and  then  a  minister  like  Otterbein  whose 
vision  had  been  enlarged,  whose  spiritual  impulses  had 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BEETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       53 

been  quickened,  and  who  sought  to  cultivate  within  his 
people  a  wider  spiritual  experience.  These  men  as 
the}^  met  each  other  would  discover  the  agreement  of 
their  aims  and  purposes  and  would  naturally  be  led 
into  a  closer  companionship  with  each  other.  "What- 
ever might  be  their  church  relations,  or  ecclesiastical 
burdens,  notliing  could  hinder  their  sympathy  wnth 
each  other.  So  also  among  the  laity  of  their  various 
churches  there  would  be  found  men  of  strong  spiritual 
aspirations,  and  without  leaving  their  own  churches 
they  could  and  did  gather  together  little  bands  of 
believers  for  their  mutual  help.  These  more  spiritual 
clergymen  encouraged  such  gathering,  and  overlooked 
and  directed  them  somewhat  with  a  view  to  the  spiritual 
culture  of  the  members.  We  do  not  suppose  that  either 
members  or  ministers,  at  this  time,  had  any  idea  of 
leaving  their  own  churches,  or  of  entering  into  new  or 
different  church  relations;  but  God  was  leading  them 
by  a  path  which  they  knew  not  of. 

The  ministers  who  favored  these  more  evangelical 
methods  were  called  "united  ministers,"  and  held  meet- 
ings of  these  devoted  church  members  and  others  at 
different  times.  Minutes  of  these  meetings  were  kept, 
and  some  are  still  in  existence.  In  one  of  their  records 
this  purpose  is  made  manifest:  "  The  ground  and  object 
of  these  meetings  is  to  be  that  those  thus  devoted  may 
encourage  one  another,  pray  and  sing  in  union,  and 
watch  over  one  another's  conduct.  At  these  meetings 
they  are  to  be  especiall}^  careful  to  see  to  it  that  family 
worship  is  regularly  maintained.  All  those  who  are 
thus  united  are  to  take  heed  that  no  disturbances  occur 
among  them,  and  that  the  affairs  of  the  congregations 
be  conducted  and  managed  in  an  orderly  manner." 


54  PHILIP   WILLIAM   OTTERBEIN, 

These  "united  ministers"  met  once  or  twice  a  year 
to  hear  reports  from  their  little  societies  and  to  advise 
and  direct  them.  At  the  meeting  June  2,  1776,  the 
minutes  gave  account  of  the  following  license: 

"In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  amen:  We,  the 
undersigned,  ministers  of  the  Reformed  church,  hereby 
announce  and  malce  know  to  whom  it  may  concern, 
that  Henry  Weidner  is  a  member  of  the  Reformed 
church,  and  inasmuch  as  we  believe  that  the  Lord  has 
called  him  into  His  vineyard,  we  allow  him  to  preach 
the  gospel,  and  hope  that  lovers  of  the  truth  will  receive 
him  in  love;  and  we  invoke  upon  him  the  grace  and 
blessing  of  God. 

"  Given  in  our  ministerial  meetino:  at  John  Ran£:er's, 
June  4.  1776. 

"  William  Otterbein, 
"  Willi A>[  Hendel, 
"Jacob  AVeimer, 
"  Benedict  Schwope." 
This  was  a  veiy  advanced  step  for  these   united 
ministers   to  take,  and  the  indications  are  that  Mr. 
Otterbein  was  traveling  too  fast  for  his  associates  to 
keep  pace  witli  him.     They  were  all  members  of  the 
lieformed  churcli  and  probably  hoped  to  work  a  trans- 
formation in  it.     The  meetings  of  1 776  were  probably 
the  last  held  by  these  men.     Some  of  these  men  confined 
their  labors  to  the  Reformed  church  and  no  doubt  did 
good  work ;  some  of  these  laymen  who  had  been  thus 
introduced  into  the  work,  afterwards,  when  the  United 
Brethren  wei'e  organized,  became  faithful  preachers  in 
the  new  church. 

Mr.  Otterbein  was  to  have  a  ])leasant  association 
with  the  Methodists  in  his  work.  When  he  began  to 
hold  his  prayer  meetings  and  to  preach  experimental 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       55 

religion,  there  were  no  Methodist  preacliers  in  America. 
Wesley  and  Whitefield  had  both  been  here,  and  th^ 
latter  had  preached  eloquently  and  had  reached  men's 
hearts,  but  had  organized  no  churches  and  ordained  no 
preachers.  In  1771,  Francis  Asbury  arrived  in  this 
country,  on  the  day  on  which  Otterbein  entered  his 
work  in  Baltimore.  May  4,  1774,  he  and  Asbury  met. 
Asbury  entered  in  his  journal  as  follows :  "  Had  a  friendly 
intercourse  with  Mi.  Otterbein  and  Mr.  Schwope,  the 
German  ministers,  respecting  the  plan  of  church  disci- 
pline in  which  they  intended  to  proceed.  They  agreed 
to  imitate  our  methods  as  nearly  as  possible."  Mr. 
Asbury  was  now  in  his  twenty-ninth  year,  while  Mr. 
Otterbein  was  in  his  forty -eighth  year.  At  this  time  Mr. 
Otterbein  knew  little  English  and  Mr.  Asbury  no  Ger- 
man. Great  as  were  the  contrasts  between  these  two 
men,  the  things  in  which  they  were  alike,  though  hid- 
den more  or  less  from  view,  were  greater  and  more 
decidedly  marked.  They  had  yielded  to  the  same  truth ; 
they  had  experienced  the  same  things  ;  they  preached 
the  same  doctrines;  they  were  each  interested  in  a 
great  mission.  Mr.  Otterbein  was  the  greater  in  spirit- 
ual resource,  and  was  possessed  of  larger  preaching 
talent.  Mr.  Asbury  was  greater  in  active  power  and 
had   before  him  a  clearer  and  more  inviting  field."* 

A  warm  personal  friendship  sprang  up  between 
these  kindred  spirits,  and  it  was  not  strange  that  when 
Mr.  Asbury  came  to  be  ordained  he  requested  that  Mr. 
Otterbein  be  associated  with  the  others  in  the  solemn 
ceremony. 

These  relations  so  pleasantly  begun  were  continued 
as  pleasantly  between  these  two  men  and  the  bodies 

♦Drury's  Life  of  Otterbein,  p.  207. 


66  PHILIP   WILLIAM    OTTEEBEIN, 

they  represented  until  Otterbein's  death.  Asbury  often 
preached  in  his  church.  In  1786  Asbury  makes  the 
following  entry  in  his  journal :  "  I  called  on  Mr.  Otter- 
bein ;  we  had  some  conversation  on  the  necessity  of 
forming  a  church  among  the  Dutch,  holding  conferences, 
and  so  forth." 

In  1809  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  Balti- 
more Conference  of  the  Methodist  church  to  "ascer- 
tain whether  any,  and  if  .  any  what,  union  could  be 
effected  between  the  Methodist  Episcopal  and  the  United 
Brethren  in  Christ."  The  exceedingly  friendly  corre- 
spondence Avhich  ensued  is  found  in  Spayth's  History, 
pp.  llG-126,  and  breathes  the  most  kindly  Christian 
spirito  An  organic  union  was  most  likel}^  not  thought 
of.  The  United  Brethren  were  occupying  almost  exclu- 
sively the  German  field  and  the  Methodists  the  English. 
The  latter  had  no  thought,  perhaps,  of  a  special  mission 
to  the  Germans  at  this  time.  In  the  letter  of  greeting 
from  the  Methodist  church,  bearing  date  March  27, 
1811,  we  find  this  language  :  "  We  hope  you  will  not  in- 
dulge for  a  moment  a  suspicion  that  we  wish  to  inter- 
fere in  your  conference  and  church  concerns." 

Furthermore,  the  letter  says : 

"  You  will  ])lease  then,  dear  brethren,  to  accept  from 
us  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  our  assurances  that 
all  our  preaching  houses  shall  be  opened  to  your  licensed 
preachers,  as  far  as  our  power  and  advice  may  be 
extended,  and  that  our  sacraments,  love-feasts  and  class- 
meetings  shall  be  open  to  your  members  who  apply 
with  such  form  of  certification  as  you  may  judge 
proper,  according  to  our  proposals  sent  you  from  the 
Harrisburg  conference." 

The  matter  was  taken  into  consideration  and  met 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       57 

with  a  cordial  reception  on  the  part  of  the  United 
Brethren  in  Christ.  Mr.  Newcomer  makes  the  following 
note  in  his  journal :  "  To-day,  the  vestry  of  Otterbein's 
church  assembled  to  take  into  consideration  a  commu- 
nication of  the  Methodist  Conference.  Otterbein  was 
president  of  the  vestry.  The  communication  related  to 
a  closer  union  between  the  two  societies,  namely,  the 
Methodist  and  the  United  Brethren." 

"We  talk  to-day  with  peculiar  pride  of  the  fellowship 
of  Christian  churches,  but  we  can  hardly  understand, 
much  less  excel,  the  good  feeling  which  prevailed  at 
this  time  between  these  two  societies,  engendered  and 
sustained  in  good  part,  no  doubt,  by  the  kindly  Chris- 
tian felloAvship  which  Asbury  and  Otterbein  had  to- 
wards each  other.  Mr.  Spayth,  who  entered  the  con- 
ference in  1812,  in  writing  of  this  period  many  years 
after,  says  with  unusual  emotion:  "I  confess  it  is  hard 
forme  to  get  away  from  this  sunny  spot.  The  love,  I 
trust,  still  lives  withm  my  heart.  I  can  look  back  and 
yet  see  the  smiles  and  cordial  shakes  of  the  hand,  hands 
now  cold  in  death,  while  mine  writes  and  trembles;  the 
hearty  and  joyous  welcome  when  Methodists  and  United 
Brethren  met ;  their  songs,  their  voices,  their  shouts  of 
hallelujah,  hallelujah,  continued  to  ring — rings  and 
vibrates  in  my  nervous  S}- stem  while  I  write,  and  thrills 
my  soul  afresh.     We  are  constrained  to  say : 

"  Wliat  happy  hours  we  once  enjoyed, 
How  sweet  their  memory  still." 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  in  this  connection  to 
give  Mr.  Asbury's  statement  in  relation  to  the  Ger- 
man fathers,  and  to  Mr.  Otterbein  in  1812  while  he  was 
yet  alive.  "  Preeminent  among  these  is  William  Otter- 
bein, who  assisted  in  the  ordination  which  set  apart  your 


58  PHILIP   WILLIAM    OTTERBEIN, 

speaker  to  the  superintend ency  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church.  William  Otterbein  was  regularly  or- 
dained to  the  ministry  in  the  German  Presbyterian 
church.  He  is  one  of  the  best  scholars  and  greatest 
divines  in  America ;  why  then  is  he  not  where  he  be- 
gan ?  He  was  irregular,  Alas  for  us,  the  zealous  are 
necessarily  so  to  those  whose  cry  is,  '  Put  me  into  the 
priest's  office  so  that  I  may  eat  a  morsel  of  bread.' 
Osterwald  has  observed,  '  Hell  is  paved  with  the  skulls 
of  unfaithful  ministers.'  Such  was  not  Boehm ;  such 
is  not  Otterbein,  and  now  his  sun  is  setting  in  bright- 
ness. Behold  the  saint  of  God  leaning  upon  his  staff, 
waiting  for  the  chariot  of  Israel." 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  meeting  of 
Otterbein  and  Boehm.  A  new  worker  is  now  to  be 
raised  up  in  the  person  of  Christian  Newcomer,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Mennonite  church,  who  is  to  aid  Mr.  Otter- 
bein and  be  a  valuable  co-laborer  with  him  in  the  mar- 
shaling of  the  scattered  forces  which  as  yet  had  been 
without  much  regular  organization.  A  fuller  account 
of  the  man's  life  and  work  will  be  given  elsewhere.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say  for  the  present  that  he  was  born  in  Lancas- 
ter county,  Pennsylvania,  January  21,  1T49,  and  began 
to  preach  about  1777.  Because  of  his  aggressive  Chris- 
tianity, Boehm  had  already  been  cut  off  from  the  Men-^ 
nonite  church.  For  some  time  Newcomer  had  known 
Otterbein  and  had  listened  to  his  preaching,  and  had 
been  impressed  with  his  deep,  fervent  piet3^  He  him- 
self tells  us  that  many  of  those  who  came  to  hear  him 
and  the  other  preachers  who  had  been  sent  out,  were 
converted  to  their  teachings.  "  Those  persons  that  held 
to  and  embraced  these  doctrines  were  by  them  formed 
into  societies,  and  were  called  Otterbein's  people,  but 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       59 

the  worldly-minded  gave  them  the  nickname  'Dutch 
Methodist'  which  in  those  days  was  considered  slan- 
derous. As  these  men  preached  the  same  doctrine  that 
I  had  experienced,  and  which,  according  to  my  views 
and  discernment,  so  perfectly  agreed  with  the  doctrine 
of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles,  I  associated  with  them 
and  joined  their  society,  and,  blessed  be  God,  although 
I  withdrew  myself  from  the  Mennonite  society  on  ac- 
count of  the  want  of  the  life  and  power  of  religion 
among  them,  I  never  in  any  wise  felt  condemned  for 
so  doing." 

Otterbein  now  has  charge  of  an  independent  con- 
gregation. Boehm  has  been  expelled  from  the  Men- 
nonites  because  of  his  evangelical  views  and  practices. 
Geeting  is  under  ban  for  the  same  cause  in  the  Re- 
formed church,  and  will  soon  suffer  the  same  fate. 
Newcomer  has  left  the  Mennonites,  bringing  with  him 
those  of  like  faith  with  himself.  Thus  the  scattered 
elements  are  coming  together,  led  by  a  common  pur- 
pose —  the  salvation  of  sinners  and  the  deepening  of  the 
spiritual  life  of  professed  Christians.  As  before  stated, 
the  "'  United  Ministers  "  came  together  as  often  as  once 
or  twice  a  year  to  look  after  the  scattered  societies 
and  to  advise  and  encourage  them.  A  great  meetmg 
was  often  held  at  the  time  and  place  where  these  minis- 
ters meet,  similar  to  the  one  where  Boehm  and  Otterbein 
met  at  Isaac  Long's  barn.  A  gathering  of  these  min- 
isters was  held  in  1789,  in  Otterbein's  parsonage,  at 
Baltimore.  "  The  members  present  were  William 
Otterbein,  Martin  Boehm,  George  A.  Geeting,  Chris- 
tian Newcomer,  Henry  "Weidner,  Adam  Lehman  and 
John  Ernst."  There  were  seven  members  present  and 
at  least  seven   absent.     Of  those  present  five   came 


60  PHILIP    WILLIAM    OTTERBEIN. 

from  the  Reformed  faith  and  two  from  the  Mennon- 
ites.  Of  those  absent  there  were  four  from  the  Re- 
formed side,  three  from  the  Mennonites,  and  one  rep- 
resentative from  the  Moravians.  Will  it  be  possible  to 
unite  in  one  compact  body  these  men  of  different  faiths 
and  the  people  whom  they  represent  ?     We  shall  see. 

Up  to  this  time  Otterbein  and  Boehm  had  had  a 
kind  of  supervision  of  the  men  and  the  work,  because 
in  the  main  it  had  been  the  outgrowth  of  their  own 
efforts.  "  The  office  of  superintendent  had  been  exer- 
cised by  Otterbein  up  to  this  time,  not  by  right  of 
election  or'  choice  but  by  force  of  circumstances ;  in- 
separably connected  with  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
Church,  all  eyes  had  been  directed  to  him  to  lead  in 
counsel;  the  preachers,  not  one  excepted,  paid  this 
deference  to  him ;  the  care  of  all  the  churches  had 
been  resting  upon  him,  and  such  was  the  love  of  obedi- 
ence to  him,  that  if  he  said  to  one,  go,  he  went ;  if  to  an- 
'  other,  come,  he  came."  *  It  seemed  to  them  best  that 
the  relation  of  themselves  to  the  workers  under  them 
should  be  a  little  more  closely  defined.  There  would  have 
been  no  difficulty,  and  all  would  have  been  glad  to  have 
followed  as  hitherto  their  well  trained  leaders,  but  the 
leaders  themselves  were  anxious  to  have  a  little  more 
responsibility  placed  upon  those  who  were  co-operating 
with  them.  They  adopted  at  that  time  a  confession  of 
faith,  written  by  Otterbein  himself  and  used  by  him  in 
his  independent  congregation  in  Baltimore.  A  slight 
modification  was  made  in  the  matter  of  the  ordinances 
to  suit  the  views  of  the  Mennonite  disciples.  At  this 
conference  they  adopted  some  rules  of  discipline,  on  the 
basis  of  those  used  by  Otterbein  at  Baltimore.     These 

*Spaytli,  p.  83' 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       61 

rules  and  confession  of  faith  were  published  in  1813. 
They  were  re-approved  by  the  first  General  Conference 
of  the  United  Brethren  in  1815. 

The  next  formal  conference  was  held  in  1Y91,  eight 
miles  from  York,  Pennsylvania.  There  was  no  other 
formal  conference  for  some  years.  That  in  1791  does 
not  seem  to  have  undertaken  any  new  measures. 

These  preachers  kept  on  preaching  as  their  time 
and  circumstances  would  permit.  The}^  would  accept 
invitations  from  the  people,  and  sometimes  make 
appointments  to  suit  their  own  convenience.  Some  of 
them  made  circuits  about  their  homes,  which  they 
served  as  best  they  could.  Great  meetings  were  held 
now  and  then  and  under  the  supervision  of  Otterbein 
and  Boehm.  New  men  were  licensed  as  the  exigencies 
of  the  circumstances  seem  to  demand.  Newcomer, 
Geeting  and  others,  would  often  visit  the  other 
preachers,  and  also  places  where  there  were  no  regular 
preaching  places,  and  hold  meetings  along  the  way, 
"  These  great  meetings  were  sometimes  held  in  groves, 
yet  they  were  not  camp-meetings,  sometimes  they  were 
held  in  barns  and  sometimes  in  private  houses.  The 
meetings  were  called  great  meetings,  quarterly  meet- 
ings, sacramental  meetings  and  two-days  meetings, 
according  to  the  accidents  belonging  to  them.  They 
seldom  exceeded  two  or  three  days  in  duration.-'* 

Newcomer  mentions  in  his  journal  a  number  of  these 
meetings  held  in  the  neighborhood  of  Antietam,  when. 
Otterbein  was  present  and  preached.  "  Not  all  who  were 
present  at  these  Antietam  meetings  at  which  Otterbein 
was  present  and  preached,  have  even  at  this  time  gone 
to  their  long  home.     The  writer  last  year  heard  from 

*Drury's  Life  of  Otterbein,  p.  244. 


62  PHILIP   WILLIAM   OTTERBEIN. 

living  lips  the  account  of  these  glorious  seasons.  The 
children  were  told  to  hurry  and  get  their  work  done, 
as  there  was  to  be  a  great  meeting  and  Father  Otterbein 
was  coming.  When  from  any  cause  the  meeting  Avas 
to  be  held  in  the  church,  the  children  were  left  at  home 
to  give  room  for  the  older  people.  .  .  Down  to  the 
present  time  the  great  meetings  at  Antietam,  now 
Keedysville,  though  modified  somewhat  of  late,  have 
been  regularly  held.''  * 

Mr.  Otterbein  came  to  this  country  as  a  minister  of 
the  German  Reformed  Church.  After  his  varied  expe- 
riences at  Lancaster,  he  met  with  indifference,  not  to 
say  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  Mother  Church.  This 
was  more  or  less  at  all  points  until  he  came  to  Balti- 
more. Here  he  had  charge  of  an  independent  church 
whose  work  and  methods  and  doctrines  were  not  in 
keeping  with  those  of  the  Reformed  Church.  He  sought 
to  bring  into  the  church  only  those  who  had  experienced 
the  pardon  of  their  sins,  and  to  lead  those  already 
members  into  a  richer  spiritual  life.  The  establishing 
of  class  meetings,  prayer  meetings  and  the  introduction 
of  lay  preaching  were  some  of  the  means  which  Provi- 
dence seemed  to  be  using  for  the  upbuilding  of  His  king- 
dom, and  these  were  among  the  things  which  awakened 
opposition  on  the  part  of  his  Reformed  brethren. 
According  to  the  testimony  of  the  Reformed  Church 
itself,  such  innovations  on  the  part  of  its  preachers 
could  not  but  awaken  opposition.  Says  Dr.  Nevin, 
"experimental  religion  in  all  its  forms  was  eschcAved  as 
a  new  fangled  invention  of  cunning  imposters,  brought 
in  to  turn  the  heads  of  the  Aveak,  and  to  lead  captive 
silly  Avomen.      Praj^er  meetings   Avere  held   to  be  a 

*Life  of  Otterbein,  p.  248. 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       03 

spiritual  abomination.  Family  worship  was  a  species 
of  saintly  afifectation,  barely  tolerable  in  the  cases  of 
ministers  (thougli  many  of  them  gloried  in  having  no 
altar  in  their  houses),  but  absolutely  disgraceful  for 
common  Christians.  To  show  an  awakened  conscience 
on  the  subject  of  religion,  a  disposition  to  call  on  God 
in  daily  secret  prayer,  was  to  incur  certain  reproach. 
.  .  The  picture  it  must  be  acknowledged  is  dark, 
but  not  more  so  than  the  trutli  of  history  would  seem 
to  require." 

The  same  writer  says  of  Otterbein :  "  He  was  a 
good  man  who  seems  to  have  been  drawn  into  a  false 
position  by  the  cold  dead  temper  that  he  found  gener- 
ally prevalent  in  the  regular  church." 

Mr.  Otterbein  it  seems  did  sustain  a  double  relation, 
one  of  whicli  was  merely  nominal.  During  the  last 
twenty-five  years  of  his  life  he  was  jiresent  at  the 
Reformed  Synod  but  three  times,  and  these  before  the 
year  1800.  After  this  he  was  never  present.  While  pas- 
tor of  an  independent  church  he  could  not  have  been  con- 
sidered a  member  of  good  standing  in  the  Synod.  Mr: 
Geeting  was  expelled  in  1804.  Both  these  men  were 
guilty  of  the  same  irregularities,  but  Mr.  Otterbein 
paid  no  attention  to  the  Sjmod's  action.  The}'^  had 
been  and  were  afterwards  warm  personal  friends,  and 
Mr.  Otterbein  approved  the  labors  and  course  of  Mr. 
Geeting.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  held  in  Balti- 
more in  1806,  Mr.  Otterbein  was  present  when  invited 
by  a  special  committee.  "  When  he  arrived,  an  oppor- 
tunity was  given  him  to  speak.  He  arose  and 
addressed  the  Synod  in  a  most  feeling  manner,  and 
strove  to  impress  the  minds  of  the  ministers  present 
with  the  importance  of  experimental  religion,  of  the 


64:  PHILIP  WILLIAM  ottp:kuein. 

new  birth,  and  the  great  necessit}'  of  preaching  to  the 
people  distinctly  and  plainly,  as  men  who  must  give 
account  to  God.  Mr.  Becker,  pastor  of  the  German 
Reformed  Church  in  Baltimore,  arose  and  opposed  the 
views  he  had  advanced,  and  answered  him  roughl}'. 
Mr.  O.  heard  lihu  through,  with  his  accustomed  meek- 
ness, and  then  taking  his  cane  and  hat,  he  bid  the 
preachers  farewell,  bowed  and  retired  never  to  return 
again."  * 

At  another  time  he  met  Mr.  Becker,  who  said  unto 
him :  "  The  Synod  will  certainly  exclude  you,  I  am 
determined  to  have  you  expelled,  we  can  not  suffer 
such  wicked  fanaticism  among  us."  To  this  Otterbein 
replied,  "  The  Synod  is  too  late  ;  the  exclusion  is  ])asV 
Dr.  Benjamin  Km^tz  has  left  the  following  testimony : 
"  During  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  no  longer 
regarded  as  a  minister  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church." 

The  probability  .seems  to  be  that  he  did  not  of  his 
own  accord  ask  to  have  his  name  taken  from  the  rec- 
ords of  the  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Church,  and  he  was 
"  too  heavy  "  for  them  to  exclude  him.  In  his  case 
he  did  not  see  any  impropriety  in  preaching  the  word 
to  earnest  people  in  his  own  and  other  churches,  and  in 
organizing  them  into  bands  for  their  own  spiritual  cul- 
ture. It  might  have  been  his  faith  that  God  would  so 
awaken  these  dead  churches  that  the  members  could  in 
a  short  time  go  back  into  the  fold  without  the  spiritual 
life  being  frozen  out  of  them.  But  God  led  him  and 
others  in  a  path  which  they  did  not  foresee,  and  he  had 
the  good  sense  to  allow  God  to  control.  While  his 
name  may  have  remained  on  the  records  of  the  Synod, 

*  Lawrence,  p.  260. 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       65 

his  lieart,  his  counsel,  his  sympathies  were  all  ^yith  the 
people,  who  were  standing  for  true  vital  piety,  and  his 
former  church  relations  gave  him  but  little  concern. 

On  the  25th  of  September,  1800,  the  first  of  the 
regular  series  of  annual  conferences  was  held  at  the 
house  of  Peter  Kemp,  near  Frederick  City,  Md.  New- 
comer gives  us  a  sketch  of  the  conference :  "  Found 
Father  Otterbein,  Boehm,  and  twelve  other  }))'eachers 
there.  The  conference  was  opened  with  singing  and 
prayer  by  Otterbein  and  Boehm.  The  former  gave  a 
powerful  exhortation.  Then  were  all  the  brethren 
present  separately  examined  respecting  their  progress 
in  the  divine  life  and  their  success  and  industry  in 
preaching."  26th  —  "  This  forenoon  Father  Otterbein 
preached  from  Amos  iv.  12.  Boehm  spoke  after  him. 
After  transacting  some  other  business  the  conference 
closed  with  prayer."  Brief  minutes  of  this  early  con- 
ference have  been  kept ;  they  are  introduced  with  the 
preface.  "  Here  now  follow  that  from  the  year  1800, 
the  United  Brotherhood  in  Christ  Jesus,  until  1800  the 

United ,  have  done  in  their  annual  conferences  for 

the  government  of  preachers  and  church  members." 
At  this  conference  those  who  had  been  acting  as  super- 
visors of  the  work  were  unanimously  elected  bishops. 
Henry  Boehm  (son  of  Martin  Boehm),  who  was  pres- 
ent, says  of  this  conference  :  "  It  was  important  in 
many  respects.  First,  they  resolved  to  call  them- 
selves, "  The  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ." 
Second,  they  elected  bishops  for  the  first  time ;  Wil- 
liam Otterbein  and  Martin  Boehm  (my  father)  were 
unanimously  chosen.  Here  were  assembled  their  great 
men."  *    By  this  we  are  not  to  understand  that  previous 

*Boehm's  Reminisences,  p.  55. 
5 


66  PHILIP    AVILLIAM    OTTERBEIN. 

to  tliis  time  they  had  no  chief,  but  that  now  for  the  first 
time  they  are  formally  elected.*  These  were  re- 
elected in  1805. 

In  the  minutes  of  the  session  of  1802,  we  find  this 
peculiar  item.  "  In  regard  to  the  keeping  of  a  register 
of  the  names  of  the  private  members,  it  was  found  that 
out  of  twelve  votes,  nine  were  against  the  motion.  So 
Avith  consent  the  matter  was  dropped."  This  super- 
stitious notion,  if  we  may  call  it  such,  of  not  reporting 
the  names  nor  keeping  a  record  of  membership,  lasted 
a  very  long  time.  A  young  man  who  joined  the  con- 
ference in  Ohio  in  1838,  either  at  that  time  or  soon 
after,  ventured  to  inquire  of  one  of  the  old  fathers,  as 
to  how  many  members  there  were  in  the  United  Breth- 
ren Church,  and  his  inquiring  spirit  was  gratified  by  the 
old  father  looking  him  in  the  face,  and  solemnly  saying 
to  him,  "  My  young  brother,  the  children  of  God  must 
never  be  numbered." 

The  conference  was  held  annually.  The  preachers 
were  becoming  better  acquainted,  circuits  were  formed 
and  the  preachers  arranged  to  travel  them.  The  bish- 
ops were  looking  more  closely  after  the  work,  holding 
meetings  and  instructing  the  people.  Otterbein  attended 
them  and  preached  as  he  could.  JN"ewcomer  makes  fre- 
quent allusions  to  this  in  his  brief  records,  "May  14th, 
Father  Otterbein  preached  this  forenoon  with  such 
power  and  grace,  that  almost  every  soul  on  the  ground 
seemed  to  be  pierced  to  the  heart."  In  1802  Otterbein 
was  at  the  meeting  at  Antietam.  Saj^s  Newcomer, 
''  Father  Otterbein  preached  the  first  sermon."  At  the 
conference  in  1803,  held  in  Cumberland  Count}^,  Penn- 
sylvania,  Mr.    Otterbeiii  preached    "as  usual,  a  A^ery 

*  Spayth,  83.  ■  """ 


riKST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       67 

powerful  and  interesting  discourse/"  "May  29th  (1805), 
to-day  our  annual  conference  convened  at  Brother  Jacob 
Baulus',  twenty-one  preachers  were  present.  Father 
Otterbein  and  Martin  Boehm  were  elected  presidents 
[bishops]."  "To-day  Father  Otterbein  preached  in 
Hagerstown,  in  the  German  Reformed  Church.  Oh, 
what  feelings  penetrate  my  soul  whenever  I  hear  this 
old  servant  of  Christ  declare  the  counsel  of  Christ. 
In  depth  of  erudition,  perspicuity  of  thought  and  plain- 
ness of  language,  he  is  unique  and  matchless."  This 
w^as  his  last  conference.  After  this  time  his  age  and 
weakened  condition  would  not  allow  him  to  leave 
Baltimore. 

In  December,  1805,  Kewcomer  learned  that  "  Father 
Otterbein  was  very  ill."  On  the  17th  he  writes,  "  this 
morning  Otterbein  "svas  somewhat  better.  We  had  a 
long  conversation  together;  among  other  things  he 
said,  '  if  we  would  onl}^  prove  faithful  to  the  work  that 
was  so  auspiciously  begun,  the  Lord  would  certainly  be 
with  us  and  continue  unto  us  his  blessings.'  "  About 
this  time  Otterbein's  church  made  the  following  record : 
"  It  was  found  that  our  preacher  was  too  old  to  attend 
the  meetings  and  to  act  as  president,  and  Peter  Hoff- 
man was  elected  president  ^ro  temjporeP 

Mr.  Otterbein's  advice  and  counsel  is  still  needed,  and 
when  he  is  too  old  to  travel  and  preach  and  assist 
the  peojjle,  the  people  and  the  preachers  must  come  to 
him;  and  so  they  do.  Newcomer  says,  "April  16th, 
1808 — "We  rode  thirty-eight  miles  to  Baltimore.  I  lodged 
with  Father  Otterbein.  Sunday  17th — This  forenoon 
Brother  Geeting  preached ;  I  gave  an  exhortation.  Otter- 
bein and  Geeting  administered  the  sacrament.  In  the 
afternoon  I  preached,  yet  Otterbein  could  still  preach." 


08  PHILIP    WILLIAM    OTTEKBEIN. 

In  December,1809,  Mr.  IS^ewcomer  was  in  Baltimore,  ana 
heard  him  preach  with  great  powxr  and  unction  from 
on  high. 

Bishop  Asbury  spent  the  evening  of  March  22, 
1813,  with  Otterbein.  He  writes  in  his  journal:  "  I  gave 
an  evening  to  the  great  Otterbein  ;  I  found  him  happy 
and  placid  in  God."  Henry  Boehm,  wdio  was  with 
Asbury,  says:  "  This  was  an  evening  I  shall  ever  remem- 
ber; two  noble  souls  met,  and  their  conversation  was 
rich  and  full  of  instruction.  They  had  frequently  met 
before  ;  this  was  their  last  interview  on  earth."  June 
19,  Newcomer  says  :  ''  Found  Father  Otterbein  weak 
and  feeble  in  body,  but  his  mental  powers  strong  as 
ever."  Yet  his  strength  was  gradually  giving  way. 
Kev.  Mr.  Schaffer,  one  of  his  Lancaster  County  con- 
verts, having  come  to  Baltimore,  Otterbein  was  relieved 
from  preaching.  "When  the  news  of  his  failing  health 
w^as  rumored  abroad,  there  was  a  desire  that  formal 
ordination  should  be  given  to  some  of  the  brethren  who 
had  been  preaching,  in  order  that  hereafter  their  way 
might  not  be  hedged  in  after  he  should  be  removed. 
Joseph  Hoffman  proposed  to  Newcomer  that  they  go 
to  Baltimore  and  receive  ordination  at  the  hands  of 
Otterbein.  The  matter  had  not  troubled  Newcomer's 
mind,  but  he  consented,  and  they  reached  Baltimore 
October  1st. 

The  ordination  took  place  on  the  2nd  of  October. 
The  Testry  of  the  church,  Kev.  William  Eyland,  of  the 
M.  E.  Church,  and  the  candidates  assembled  at  the  par- 
sonage. Mr.  Otterbein  was  lifted  from  his  bed  and 
placed  in  a  chair,  from  which  place  he  addressed  the 
candidates.  After  an  earnest  and  tender  exhortation 
to   them,     he    invoked    God's    blessing    upon    them, 


FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST,       69 

and  having  been  assisted  to  his  feet,  he  placed  his 
hands  on  the  heads  of  the  candidates  and  solemnly 
repeated  the  ordination  service.  This  was  the  last 
public  act  of  a  long  and  faithful  ministry. 

On  the  following  day,  Hoffman  and  Newcomer 
preached  in  Otterbein's  church,  and  administered  the 
sacrament.  On  Monday,  the  4th,  they  left  the  city. 
He  urged  them  to  be  faithful,  and  if  so,  God  would  use 
them  to  carry  on  the  work  so  well  begun.  His  last 
words  to  them  were ;  "  Farewell !  If  any  inquire  after 
me,  tell  them  I  die  in  the  faith  I  have  preached." 

During  the  following  weeks  until  the  middle  of 
November,  he  gradually  grew  worse.  He  suffered 
much  from  an  asthmatic  affection,  which  grew  worse 
as  the  end  approached.  The  last  prayer  which  he 
heard  was  offered  by  Dr.  Kurtz,  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  at  the  close  of  which  he  responded,  "Amen! 
amen!  It  is  finished."  He  began  to  sink  away  after 
this,  but  rallied  again,  said  slowly  and  distinctly : 
"Jesus,  Jesus,  I  die,  but  Thou  livest,  and  soon  I  shall 
live  with  Thee."  Turning  to  his  friends,  he  said,  "  Tlie 
conflict  is  over  and  past.  I  begin  to  feel  an  unspeak- 
able fullness  of  love  and  peace  divine ;  lay  my  head 
upon  my  pillow  and  be  still."  Spayth  further  says : 
"  Stillness  reigned  in  the  chamber  of  death ;  no,  not  of 
death — the  chariot  of  Israel  had  come.  '  See,'  said  one, 
'  how  sweet,  how  easy  he  breathes.'  A  smile,  a  fresh 
glow,  lighted  up  his  countenance ;  and,  behold,  it  was 
death : 

He  taught  us  how  to  live,  and  oh !  too  high 
A  price  of  knowledge,  taught  us  how  to  die. 

Otterbein  died  as  he  had  lived,  with  commanding 
composure  and  subdued  greatness." 


70  PHILIP    WILLIAM    OTTERBEIN. 

He  died  on  Wednesday,  November  17th,  at  10 
o  clock  in  the  morning.  His  funeral  occurred  the  fol- 
lowing Saturday.  His  funeral  sermon  was  preached 
by  Eev.  J.  D.  Kurtz,  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  his  faith- 
ful friend,  and  for  twenty-seven  years  his  co-laborer  in 
Baltimore,  from  Matt.  xx.  8  :  "  Call  the  laborers  and 
give  them  their  hire."  This  discourse  having  been  in 
the  German  language,  Kev.  William  Ryland,  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  spoke  in  the  English.  Most  of 
the  ministers  of  the  city  and  a  large  concourse  of 
people  were  present.  None  of  the  United  Brethren 
ministers  took  part  in  the  funeral  services.  New- 
comer, Hoffman,  and  others  were  engaged  elsewhere. 
When  Newcomer  reached  home  and  heard  of  Otter- 
bein's  death,  he  wrote:  "He  is  called  to  his  everlast- 
ing home,  where  he  rests  from  his  labors  and  his 
works  do  follow  him."  When  Asbury  heard  of  his 
death,  he  exclaimed :  "  Is  Father  Otterbein  dead  ? 
Great  and  good  man  of  God,  an  honor  to  his  Church 
and  country.  One  of  the  greatest  scholars  and  divines 
that  ever  came  to  America,  or  was  born  in  it.  Alas ! 
the  chiefs  of  the  Germans  are  gone  to  their  rest  and 
reward  from  the  evil  to  come." 

Otterbein's  remains  are  deposited  in  the  City  of 
Baltimore,  and  Churchyard  on  Howard's  Hill.  In 
entering  the  gate,  immediateh^  in  front  of  the  church, 
from  Conway  street,  the  passage  to  the  church  leads 
through  a  small  yard  called  Otterbein's  graveyard, 
there  the  sainted  father  of  blessed  memory,  lies  alone, 
there  being  no  other  grave  in  this  apartment.  The 
grave  is  adorned  with  two  plain  marble  slabs,  the  upper 
one  resting  on  four  pillars  of  marble,  with  the  follow- 
ing inscription : 


FIKST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       71 

Here  Rest  the  Remains 

of 

William  Otterbein. 

He  was  born  June  4th,  1726; 

Departed  this  life  Nov.  17th,  1813, 

Aged  87  years    5  months  and  13  days. 

"  Blessed  are  the  dead  wliich  die  in  the  Lord,  for  they 
rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works  do  follow  them:" 

In  the  Ministry  Sixty-two  Years. 

Four  months  after  the  death  of  Otterbein,  Mr.  As- 
bury  by  request  of  his  own  Conference  and  the  bereaved 
congregation,  delivered  in  Otterbein's  own  church  a 
discourse  in  memory  of  the  departed.  He  makes  this 
note  in  his  journal :  "By  request,  I  discoursed  on  the 
character  of  the  angel  of  the  church  of  Philadelphia  in 
allusion  to  William  Otterbein,  the  holy,  the  great  Otter- 
bein whose  funeral  discourse  it  was  intended  to  be. 
Solemnity  marked  the  silent  meeting  in  the  German 
church,  where  were  assembled  the  members  of  our  Con- 
ference and  many  of  the  clergy  of  the  city.  Forty 
years  have  I  known  the  retiring  modesty  of  this  man  of 
God,  towering  majestic  above  his  fellows  in  learning, 
wisdom  and  grace,  yet  seeking  to  be  known  only  to  God 
and  to  the  people  of  God." 

Dr.  Benjamin  Kurtz,  of  the  Lutheran  church,  says  of 
him :  "Otterbein  that  true  and  living  witness,  whose 
memory  I  hold  dear  and  cherish  in  my  heart  of  hearts, 
was  still  laboring  with  faith  and  patience,  and  with 
great  success,  when  I  commenced  preaching  the  gospel: 
but  a  short  time  before  my  arrival  in  Baltimore  the 
Master  had  called  him  home.  The  pious  part  of  the 
community  still  delighted  in  calling  to  mind  his  unctious 
sermons,  his  holy  walk  and  conversation,  and  his  won- 


72  PHILIP    WILLIAM    OTTEKBEIN, 

derful  success  in  winning  sinners  from  the  error  of  their 
ways,  as  well  as  in  encouraging  the  weak  and  building 
up  believers.  The  devotion  and  enthusiasm  with  which 
those  who  had  been  converted  under  his  preaching, 
spoke  of  his  power  in  the  pulpit,  of  his  spirit  and  holy 
conversation  in  personal  intercourse,  and  of  his  untiring 
labor  to  lead  sinners  to  Christ,  was  really  refreshing  and 
filled  my  heart  with  love  and  admiration  for  that  chosen 
and  distinguished  servant  of  the  Lord.  I  know  a  num- 
ber of  the  early  preachers  who  had  been  converted  by 
Ottei'bein's  instrumentality,  and  preached  in  company 
witli  some  of  them  on  funeral  and  other  occasions. 
They  were  all  men  of  God,  though  not  learned  like  Ot- 
terbein  (who  was  a  scholar  as  well  as  a  saint,)  they  were 
faithful,  devoted,  and  eminently  usefuL  If  ever  there 
was  a  true  revival  preacher  Otterbein  was  one." 

Dr.  Zacliarias,  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Church  at 
Frederick,  Maryland,  wrote  in  1847,  as  follows:  ''Mr. 
Otterbein  was  a  ripe  scholar  and  a  devoted  and  pious 
man,  who  lived  in  God  and  God  in  him.  By  his  agen- 
cy a  new  life  was  brought  into  the  Church,  at  first  as  a 
mustard  seed,  but  later  a  tree  whose  branches  afforded 
a  grateful  resting  place  for  many.  He  was  respected 
and  revered  even  by  those  who  disapproved  of  his 
measures,  and  throughout  life  his  character  stood  un- 
sullied by  a  single  stain." 

Henry  Boehm,  the  son  of  the  Bishop,  describes  him 
as  he  saw  him  at  the  Conference  of  1800 :  "In  form  he 
was  tall,  being  about  six  feet  high,  with  a  noble  frame, 
and  a  commanding  appearance.  He  had  a  thoughtful 
open  countenance,  full  of  benignity  and  a  dark  bluish 
eye  that  was  very  expressive.  In  reading  the  lesson  he 
used  spectacles  which  he  would  take  off  and  hold  in  his 


FIKST  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       73 

left  hand  while  speaking.  He  had  a  liigh  forehead,  a 
double  chin  with  a  beautiful  dimple  in  the  center.  His 
locks  were  gray,  his  dress  parsonic." 

Mr.  John  Hildt  gives  his  first  impression  of  him  as 
follows :  "It  was  on  Good  Friday,  in  the  forenoon^ 
when,  by  the  persuasion  of  a  friend,  I  entered  the  church 
where  he  officiated.  A  venerable,  portly  old  man, 
above  six  feet  in  height,  erect  in  posture,  apparently 
about  seventy -five  years  of  age,  stood  before  me.  He 
had  a  remarkably  high  and  prominent  forehead,  gray 
hair  fell  smooth  down  both  sides  of  his  head,  on  his 
temples;  his  eyes  were  large,  blue  and  piercing,  and 
sparkled  with  the  fire  of  love  that  warmed  his  heart. 
In  his  appearance  and  manners  there  was  nothing 
repulsive,  but  all  was  attractive  and  calculated  to  com- 
mand the  most  profound  attention  and  reverence.  lie 
opened  his  lips  in  prayer  to  Jehovah.  Oh,  what  a  voice, 
what  a  prayer !  Every  word  thrilled  my  heart.  I  had 
heard  many  prayers,  but  never  before  one  like  this.  As 
he  preached  every  sentence  smote  me.  A  tremor  at 
length  seized  on  my  whole  frame,  tears  streamed  from 
my  eyes,  and,  utterly  unable  to  restrain  myself,  I  cried 
aloud." 

"  The  true  explanation  of  his  devoted  life  and  sustained 
labors  is  to  be  found  in  his  deep  perceptions  of  the 
moral  contrasts  presented  in  the  Scriptures-  He  ap- 
preciated the  unspeakable  difference  between  a  soul 
unrenewed  and  a  soul  renewed.  The  difference  was 
one  of  quahty,  fundamental  character,  not  one  of  moral 
shading.  By  the  aid  of  the  Scriptures  he  read  moral 
truth  in  its  primitive  causes.  He  saw  that  the  differ- 
ence between  unbelievers  and  Christians  must  be  carried 
on  the  part  of  Christians  to  a  jo3"ful  and  assured  knowl- 


74  PHILIP   WILLIAM   OTTEEBEIN. 

edge  of  salvation.  He  regarded  this  as  necessary,  not 
only  for  the  proper  joy  and  comfort  of  believers,  but 
also  as  necessary  for  the  triumphs  of  the  Church.  To 
deny  the  possibility  of  this  assurance  was  to  go  against 
the  Scriptures,  and  to  cast  away  the  essential  consisten- 
cy of  Christianity.  Why  should  not  so  great  a  change 
as  that  from  death  unto  life,  from  the  despair  to  the 
favor  of  God,  have  a  Vv  itness  in  man's  inmost  experience? 
From  such  perceptions  there  could  be  but  one  result. 
Could  any  man  have  this  deejD  and  living  view  of  moral 
qualities  and  conditions — qualities  and  conditions  so 
boldly  presented  and  so  strikingly  contrasted  in  the 
Scriptures — and  remain  an  ordinary  Christian  or  an 
ordinary  force  in  the  work  of  saving  men? 

"Mr.  Otterbein's  place  in  history  is  becoming  more 
clear  and  his  name  more  honored  as  the  years  go  by. 
The  ideas  that  he  sought  to  advance  are  now  firmly 
throned  in  the  heart  of  the  Church.  The  ideas  of  a  con- 
scious experience  of  the  grace  of  God,  a  spiritual  Church- 
membership,  a  converted  ministry,  and  the  social  ele- 
ments in  religious  life,  are  no  longer  symbols  of  divis- 
ions in  the  Church.  But  the  world  does  not  forget 
those  that  won  for  these  ideas  their  recognized  place. 
Revivals,  the  promotion  of  which  required  in  him  the 
martyr  spirit,  have  now  an  open  field  and  the  authority 
of  multitudes  of  the  greatest  names." 


Martin  Boehm. 


MARTIN  BOEHM, 
SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


SAYS  the  historian:  "  Before  the  rise  of  Luther  and 
Calvin,  there  lay  concealed  in  all  the  centers  of 
Europe  many  persons  who  adhered  tenaciously  to  the 
doctrines  which  the  Waldenses  and  Hussites  had  main- 
tained, that  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  or  the  visible  Church 
which  he  established  upon  earth,  ought  to  be  inaccessi- 
ble to  the  wicked  and  unrighteous."  That  the  Church 
might  be  a  holy  Church,  separate  from  the  world  was 
the  unceasing  prayer  of  many  good  men  of  that  day, 
as  it  is  the  constant  prayer  of  good  men  to-day. 

One  of  the  men,  who  at  that  day  stood  for  a  firm 
faith  and  a  pure  church,  and  whose  name  is  honored 
by  a  goodly  following  in  our  own  and  other  lands,  was 
born  in  Freisland  in  1505.  He  was  trained  for  the  office 
of  priest  in  the  Catholic  Church ;  but  soon  after  he  be- 
gan his  work  a  diligent  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
produced  his  spiritual  enlightenment  and  finalh'-  his 
conversion.  The  martyrdom  of  some  of  the  Anabap- 
tists about  him  elicited  his  sympathy,  and  no  doubt 
helped  to  bring  him  into  the  light.  To  leave  the  Church 
into  which  he  had  been  born,  and  to  accept  the  shame, 
and  obloquy  and  persecution,  which  were  sure  to  come 
upon  him,  was  no  easy  thing  for  a  sensitive  and  tender- 
hearted man  to  do.  Of  his  conversion  he  says,  "I  be- 
sought my  God  with  sighing  and  tears,  that  to  me,  a 
troubled  sinner,  He  would  grant  the  gift  of  His  grace ; 
that  He  would  endue  me  with  wisdom,  spirit,  frankness, 

75 


76  -  MAETIN   BOEHM, 

and  manly  fortitude,  so  that  I  might  preach  His  name, 
and  holy  word,  unadulterated,  and  proclaim  His  truth 
to  His  praise.  At  length  the  great  and  gracious  Lord, 
perhaps  after  the  course  of  nine  months,  extended  to 
me  His  fatherl}'  spirit,  help  and  mighty  hand,  so  that  I 
freely  abandoned  at  once  my  character,  honor,  and 
fame  which  I  had  among  men,  and  put  myself  willingly 
in  all  trouble  and  poverty,  under  the  pressing  cross  of 
Christ  my  Lord," 

From  this  period  to  the  end  of  his  life ;  that  is, 
during  a  space  of  twenty-five  years,  he  travelled  from 
one  country  to  another,  exercising  his  ministry  under  a 
series  of  pressures  and  calamities  of  various  kinds,  and 
constantly  in  danger  of  falling  a  victim  to  the  severity 
of  the  laws.  Anxious  to  spread  his  views  of  Divine 
truth,  he  travelled  far  and  near.  He  travelled  in  Freis- 
lancl,  Holland  and  Germany  to  make  converts.  Under 
his  prudent  and  energetic  labors,  many  of  the  chosen 
ones  were  gathered  into  a  well-organized  Church,  whose 
doctrines  and  practices  seemed  much  more  in  accord- 
ance with  the  teaching  of  Scripture  than  those  adopted 
by  his  contemporaries.  In  later  years  these  simple, 
honest,  inoffensive  people  were  brutally  slaughtered. 
Many  of  them  left  the  Old  World  and  found  homes  in 
Lancaster  and  other  counties  in  Pennsylvania,  wherein 
the  Providence  of  God  some  of  these  men  early  became 
associated  with  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in 
Christ.     One  of  these  was  Martin  Boehm. 

Martin  Boehm  was  born  in  Lancaster  county.  Pa., 
November  30,  a.  d.  1725,  the  year  preceding  the  birth  of 
Otterbein.  His  grandfather,  Jacob  Boehm,  a  native  of 
Switzerland  was  a  member  of  the  Peformed  Church.  It 
was  the  custom  in  Switzerland  for  those  who  liad  com- 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       77 

pleted  a  trade,  to  travel  three  years  through  the  coun- 
try as  itinerant  journeymen  so  as  to  perfect  themselves 
in  their  work.  While  on  a  trip  of  this  kind  he  fell  in 
with  the  Mennonites,  became  a  convert  to  their  doc- 
trines, and  when  he  returned  home  his  manner  was  so 
strano'e  his  friends  could  not  understand  him.  His 
experience  of  the  formal  religion  which  he  saw  around 
him,  his  boldness  in  reproving  some,  soon  raised  a  storm 
of  persecution.  He  was  a  heretic,  and  these  were 
hunted  down  with  great  ferocity.  The  favorite  mode 
of  punishing  them,  especially  at  Berne  was  by  drown- 
ing. This  manner  of  death  was  deemed  the  most  ap- 
propriate, because  it  was  only  baptizing  them  in  their 
own  wav.  In  1533  the  council  published  an  edict  an- 
nouncing that  they  should  be  left  in  peace  if  they  would 
keep  their  belief  to  themselves  and  maintain  silence ; 
but  tliat  if  they  continued  to  preach  and  keep  up  a  sep- 
arate sect,  they  should  not  be  any  more  condemned  to 
death,  but  only  to  perpetual  imprisonment  on  bread 
and  water. 

His  father,  when  he  learned  of  his  son's  conduct, 
was  very  much  excited.  The  young  man  was  convicted 
of  heresy  and  sentenced  to  prison.  An  older  brother 
was  appointed  to  conduct  him  to  the  place  of  confine- 
ment. He  was  not  watched  very  closely,  and  as  they 
were  near  the  line  he  fled  into  Holland,  where  he  was 
free  from  his  persecutors,  and  in  a  land  where  liberty 
of  worship  was  accorded  to  Christians  of  all  denomi- 
nations. He  settled  here,  became  a  lay  elder  among 
the  Mennonites,  married  and  had  several  children,  the 
third  of  whom  was  named  Jacob,  and  was  the  father  of 
the  subject  of  our  sketch.  This  Jacob  came  to  Amer- 
ica in  1715.     He  first  went  to  Germantown,  then  to 


Y8  MARTIN   BOEHM, 

Conestoga  township,  Lancaster  county,  where  he  finally 
settled.  Here  he  married  a  Miss  Kendig.  Like  his 
father,  he  became  an  elder  in  the  Mennonite  Society. 
He  soon  bought  a  farm  and  built  himself  a  house.  He 
was  the  first  blacksmitli  in  all  that  section.  When 
necessary,  the  wife  Avould  leave  her  work  and  blow  and 
strike  for  him.  They  had  a  number  of  sons  and  daugh- 
ters.    Martin  was  the  3^oungest  of  these. 

"What  knowledge  he  possessed  would  be  that  ob- 
tained from  his  home  teaching,  and  his  contact  with 
his  Church,  and  not  from  the  schools,  for  the  latter 
must  have  been  very  scarce  and  very  feeble.  These 
men  who  had  suffered  persecution  for  their  religious 
faith,  and  had  fled  from  home  and  fatherland  to  enjoy 
it,  would  be  very  sure  to  indoctrinate  their  children 
with  the  same  belief.  AVhile  a  German,  and  trained  to 
the  use  of  the  German  language,  in  later  years  he 
learned  to  read  and  converse  in  the  English  language. 

His  son  describes  him  as  a  short,  stout  man,  with  a 
vigorous  constitution,  an  intellectual  countenance  and  a 
full  flowing  beard,  which  gave  him  a  fine  patriarchal 
appearance.  He  had  strong  common  sense  and  well 
understood  the  science  of  family  government. 

He  was  married,  in  1753,  to  Eve  Seiner,  who  was 
born  on  Christmas  day,  1734,  and  therefore  was  nine 
years  younger  than  he.  Her  ancestors,  also,  originally 
came  from  Switzerland.  Martin  inherited  the  home 
farm,  and  in  1756  built  himself  a  house,  in  which  all  of 
his  children  were  born,  and  in  which  others  have  been 
born  into  the  kingdom.  There  were  eight  children 
born  to  them,  of  whom  the  youngest,  Henry,  became 
a  prominent  minister  in  the  Methodist  church.  The 
son  says,  "My  mother  was  a  noble  woman,  and  to  my 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UKITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.       79 

parents  I  am,  under  God,  indebted  for  what  I  am  on 
earth  and  all  I  hope  to  be  in  heaven." 

The  son,  long  after,  says  of  this  home  of  his  youth, 
"My  early  advantag-es  for  religious  instruction  were 
great.  I  was  brought  up  in  the  nurture  and  admoni- 
tion of  the  Lord.  Morning  and  evening  the  old  family 
Bible  was  read  and  prayer  was  offered;  my  father's 
voice  still  echoes  in  my  ears.  My  mother,  too,  had 
much  to  do  in  moulding  my  character,  and  shaping  my 
destiny.  One  evening  as  I  returned  home,  I  heard  a 
familiar  voice  engaged  in  prayer;  I  listened  and  it  was 
my  mother.  Among  other  things  she  prayed  for  her 
children,  and  mentioned  Henry,  her  youngest  son.  The 
mention  of  my  name  broke  my  heart  and  melted  me 
into  contrition;  tears  rolled  down  my  cheeks,  and  I  felt 
the  importance  of  complying  with  the  command  of 
God:  'My  son,  give  me  thine  heart.'" 

In  1756,  Martin  Boehm,  when  thirty -one  years  of 
age,  was  nominated  to  the  ministry,  and  chosen  by  lot, 
as  was  the  custom  in  the  Mennonite  church.  He  had 
no  wish'  for  this  place.  He  earnestly  besought  his 
brethren  to  nominate  some  one  better  than  himself. 
This  was  not  done,  and  the  time  came  when  each  one 
nominated  was  to  step  forth  and  take  a  book.  I  stepped 
out  with  trembling,  saying  inwardh^,  "Lord,  not  me,  I 
am  too  poor."  The  books  were  opened  and  the  lot 
was  his.  Believing  that  this  fell  by  divine  appoint- 
ment, he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  dissent  or  refuse,  but 
felt  constrained  to  take  upon  himself  the  office  of  the 
ministry  as  best  he  could. 

Mr.  Spayth  gives  Mr.  Boehm's  own  statement  of 
his  condition  as  given  to  him:  "According  to  our  usage, 
it  was  not  expected  for  me  to  preach  immediately  there- 


■/, 


80  MA.ETIN    BOEHM, 

after,  because  our  elder  preacher  was  still  able  to 
preach,  but  it  was  my  duty  to  assist  him  in  preaching 
and  exhortation,  as  God  would  give  me  ability.  I  had 
been  reading  the  Scriptures  much,  but  now  read  them 
still  more  and  with  care,  in  order  to  impress  their  read- 
ing on  my  memory,  so  that  1  might  have  something 
wherewith  to  preach  or  exhort.  Sunday  came;  the 
elder  brother  preached,  and  in  attempting  to  follow  him 
by  a  word  of  exhortation  I  failed,  although  for  some 
two  years  past  I  had  been  giving  testimony  at  the  close 
of  the  sermons,  and  frequently  concluded  the  meeting. 
I  continued  reading.  Tlie  next  Sabbath  I  was  requested 
to  take  part  and  rose  up,  but  could  say  little  or  nothing; 
I  had  charged  my  mind  and  memory  with  some  Script- 
ure passages,  but  when  wanted  could  not  bring  them  to 
my  recollection;  I  prayed  to  the  Lord  to  assist  me  in 
retaining  His  word  and  strengthen  me  in  my  great 
weakness,  that  to  some  extent  at  least,  I  might  an- 
swer his  call. 

"Some  months  passed  in  this  way,  but  it  came  not. 
This  state  began  deeply  to  distress  me.  To  be  a 
preacher  and  yet  have  nothing  to  preach  or  to  say,  but 
to  stammer  out  a  few  words  and  then  be  obliged  to 
talie  my  seat  in  shame  and  remorse.  I  had  faith  in 
prayer,  and  prayed  more  frequently.  While  thus 
engaged  in  praying  earnestly  for  aid  to  preach,  the 
thought  rose  up  in  my  mind,  or  as  though  one  spoke  to 
me,  saying,  'You  pray  for  grace  to  teach  others  the 
way  of  salvation,  and  you  have  not  prayed  for  your 
own  salvation.'  This  thought,  or  word,  did  not  leave 
me.  My  salvation  followed  me  wherever  I  went;  I  felt 
constrained  to  pray  for  myself,  and  while  praying  for 
myself  my  mind  became  alarmed.     I  felt  and  saw  my- 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN    IN  CHRIST.       81 

self  a  poor  sinner — I  was  lost.  My  agony  became  great, 
I  was  ploughing  in  the  field  and  kneeled  down  at  each 
end  of  the  furrow  to  pray  The  word  lost,  lost,  went 
every  round  with  me.  Midway  in  the  field  I  could  go 
no  further,  but  sank  behind  the  plough,  crying,  'Lord, 
save,  I  am  lost';  and  again  the  thought,  as  voice,  said,  'I 
am  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  is  lost.'  In  a 
moment  a  stream  of  joy  was  poured  over  me.  I  pi  aised 
the  Lord,  and  left  the  field  and  told  my  companions 
what  joy  I  felt., 

"As  before  I  wished  the  Sabbath  far  off,  now  I 
wished  it  was  to-morrow.  Sunday  came,  the  elder 
brother  preached,  and  I  rose  to  tell  my  experience  since 
my  call  to  the  ministry.  When  speaking  of  my  lost 
estate  and  agony  of  mind,  I  soon  began  to  work  on  the 
congregation.  This  gave  me  encouragement  to  speak 
of  our  fallen  and  lost  condition,  and  of  repentance. 
The  Sabbath  following  it  was  the  same  and  much  more. 
Before  I  was  done  I  found  myself  in  the  midst  of  the 
congregation  where  some  I  saw  were  weeping  aloud. 

"This  caused  considerable  commotion  in  our  church 
as  well  as  among  the  people  generally.  It  was  all  new — : 
none  of  us  had  ever  seen  or  heard  it  before.  A  new 
creation  appeared  to  rise  up  before  me  and  around  me. 
I^ow  Scripture,  before  mysterious  and  like  a  dead  letter 
to  me,  was  plain  of  interpretation — was  all  spirit,  all 
life. 

"  Like  a  dream,  old  things  had  passed  away,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  I  had  aAvoke  to  a  new  life,  new  thoug-hts, 
new  faith,  new  love.  I  rejoiced  and  praised  God  with 
my  whole  heart.  This  joy,  this  faith,  this  love,  I  wished 
to  communicate  to  those  around  me,  but  when  speaking 
thereof  in  public  or  in  private,  it  made  different  im- 


82  •  MARTIN    BOEHM 


pressions  on  different  persons.  Some  gave  a  mournful 
look,  some  sighed  and  wept  and  would  say, '  Oh,  Martin, 
are  we  indeed  lost  ? '  Yes,  man  is  lost,  Christ  will  never 
find  us  till  we  know  that  we  are  lost.  My  wife  was 
the  next  lost  sinner  that  felt  the  same  jcy,  the  same 
love." 

It  was  a  rich  treat  to  hear  this  father  in  Israel  tell 
of  his  call  to  the  ministry  ;  how  he  shrank  from  it  when 
proposed,  and  how  it  resulted  in  his  finding  Jesus,  the 
lost  sinner's  friend,  and  the  joy  he  felt  when  the  burden 
of  sin  was  taken  away.  Of  this  he  loved  to  speak  in 
his  old  age,  and  would  recur  to  it  with  an  animation 
peculiar  to  himself.  To  see  his  eyes  light  up,  and  his 
whole  countenance  assume  for  the  time  a  youthful  ap- 
pearance in  contrast  with  his  snowy  locks  and  white 
beard,  was  a  sight;  a  pen  dipped  in  liquid  light  could 
not  describe  it ;  it  had  to  be  seen  to  be  appreciated.  He 
would  say,  "  Now  I  oia  a.  servant,  a.  child  of  God.  When 
this  took  place  I  knew  of  no  one  who  had  felt  and  en- 
joyed the  sweet  influence  of  the  love  of  God  in  the 
heart  but  Nancy  Keagy,  my  mother's  sister.  In  our 
family  connection  and  in  her  immediate  neighborhood 
she  was  known  as  a  very  pious  woman,  and  she  was 
pious." 

Boehm's  conversion  and  his  evangelical  preaching 
occurred  in  1758.  He  was  made  a  preacher  in  full 
standing  in  1759.  While  his  preaching  was  new  to  his 
Mennonite  brethren,  they  did  not  seemingly  oppose  him. 
Along  with  the  other  Germans  who  had  left  Pennsyl- 
vania about  the  middle  of  the  century,  and  moved  to 
what  was  then  called  New  Virginia,  were  many  Men- 
nonite families.  Some  of  his  own  relatives  were  among 
this  number.     Owing  to  the  sparseness  of  the  popula- 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       83 

tion,  they  had  but  little  preaching  and  ver}"  seldom  from 
men  of  their  own  denomination.  Some  of  the  converts 
of  Whitefield  found  their  way  into  this  section,  and 
began  to  preach  a  present  salvation.  Some  of  the 
Mennonites  became  seriously  affected  by  this  "  New- 
light  preaching,"  and  they  needed  the  advice  and  pres- 
ence of  those  in  whom  they  had  confidence,  namely, 
their  own  preachers.  Boehm  was  called  at  this  time, 
and  was  anxious  to  go.  that  he  might  find  this  truth 
more  fulW. 

A  single  example  will  show  the  condition  of  things 
that  prevailed.  A  daughter  of  a  Mr.  Keller,  weighed 
down  with  a  sense  of  her  lost  condition,  became  almost 
distracted.  The  father,  a  kind-hearted  man  was  sure 
she  was  sick,  but  her  answer  was,  "My  heart  is  sick." 
The  father  could  not  help  her  ;  there  was  no  one  to  ad- 
vise or  counsel.  At  this  crisis  Boehm  arrived.  After 
salutations  had  passed  and  refreshments  had  been  taken, 
Boehm,  in  conversation  with  Keller,  inquired  how  mat 
ters  stood  in  religion.  Keller  replied,  "  Most  of  us  are 
doing  well,  but  some  new  doctrines  have  of  late  been 
preached  by  men  hereabout,  which  has  caused  some  dis- 
turbance among  us." 

"  And  what  do  these  men  preach  ? "  "  What  they 
preach  is  rather  more  than  I  can  tell  3^ou,  but  it  is  dif- 
ferent from  what  we  have  ever  heard.  Our  daue^hter, 
about  two  months  since,  was  at  their  meetinir,  and  has 
not  been  like  herself  since."  "And  for  two  months  she 
has  been  at  no  preaching? "  "  ISTo,  we  could  not  think 
of  letting  her  go,  and  have  wished  she  had  never  heard 
those  people;  and  as  we  have  written  you,  there  are 
others  of  your  people  just  like  her,  melancholy  and  de- 
jected, and  all  we  can  get  them  to  say  is,  '  We  are  lost, 


84  MARTIN    BOEHM, 

we  have  no  true  religion,'  and  for  this  reason  we  have 
sent  for  yoa,  believing  that  they  would  be  advised  bv 
our  own  preachers  and  dismiss  their  gloomy  thoughts." 

"And  where  is  that  daughter  of  yours?" 

''Why,"  answered  the  mother,  "there  you  see  she 
is,  and  has  not  spoken  a  word  to  any  of  us  to-day." 

Boehm  now  moved  his  chair  to  her  side  and  sought 
to  draw  from  herself  the  state  and  exercises  of  her 
mind.  She  listened  to  him  for  some  time  in  silence, 
breathing  at  intervals  a  deep  sigh.  Soon  the  fountain 
of  her  tears  was  opened  again,  and  she  began  to  weep 
aloud,  and  said :  "  Is  it  possible  that  you,  a  stranger, 
know  what  I  have  felt  and  suffered  for  weeks,  and  you 
believe  that  I  am  a  sinner,  that  I  am  lost? " 

"  Yes,  I  know  this,  my  daughter,  but  I  know  Jesus 
came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  is  lost,  and  he  is 
come  to  find  you  and  to  save  you  to-night  yet.  Do  you 
believe  in  Jesus  ? " 

"Yes,  I  believe  Jesus  Christ  lives;  but  have  I  not 
offended  him  ?  Will  he  not  come  and  judge  the  world 
and  me  ?     Oh  that  Jesus  would  save  me ! " 

"  Come,"  said  Boehm,  "  we  will  kneel  down  and 
pray."  The}'^  knelt  down.  The  agony  of  Miss  Keller 
was  great,  she  cried :  "  Lord  save,  or  I  perish !  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Boehm,  "  hold  to  that ;  he  will  save,  and 
that  speedily."  And  so  it  was ;  she  was  blessed  and 
all  her  sorrow  was  gone — dissolved  in  joy. 

Seeing  this,  her  mother  cried  out :  "Martin!  Mar- 
tin !  what  have  you  done  ?  Why  did  you  come  ?  What 
will  become  of  us  now  ? " 

"  Yes,"  replied  her  husband.  "  what  will  become  of 
us  ?  We,  too,  are  lost." 

That  night  was  a  night  of  mourning  and  a  night  of 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHEEN  IN  CHRIST.       85 

jo}^  for  that  home  ;  for  the  morning  light  found  them 
all  rejoicing  in  the  love  of  God. 

Mr.  Boehm  went  to  Virginia  to  help  others,  but  was 
very  much  helped  and  encouraged  himself  by  what  he 
saw  and  heard.  What  he  saw  confirmed  him  more  and 
more  in  the  truthfulness  of  the  experience  through 
which  he  had  just  passed.  Fear  of  offending  his  breth- 
ren was  now  gone,  and  he  was  more  courageous  than 
ever  to  speak  the  truth.  "We  became  satisfied  that 
men  everywhere  must  repent,  and  that  this  repentance 
must  be  accompanied  by  a  godly  sorrow  deeply  felt ; 
and  that  there  can  be  no  rest,  no  peace,  no  hope,  and 
no  faith  without  it."  He  had  news  to  tell  of  what  he 
had  witnessed  in  Virginia ;  things  which  he  had  never 
witnessed  before,  and  the  recital  of  which  carried  con- 
viction to  many  hearts.  During  the  two  years  which 
followed,  he  preached  with  unusual  power  and  success, 
God  was  with  him  by  the  influence  of  the  Spirit,  and 
many  lost  persons  were  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  Sabbath  preaching  was  not  enough  to  satisfy 
the  wants  of  those  who  had  been  awakened,  so  he 
began  to  preach  on  week-days  and  during  the  evenings. 
The  time  seemed  to  be  ripening  for  an  awakening 
among  the  people,  and  this  man  was  being  helped  for 
it  by  improving  the  opportunities  as  they  came  to  him 
to  meet  the  wants  of  those  who  already  were  thirsting 
for  a  better  life. 

As  a  result  of  his  trip  to  Virginia,  some  of  the 
New-light  preachers,  to  whom  reference  has  already 
been  made,  came  at  intervals  into  Lancaster  County, 
Pa.  Sometimes  they  preached  in  English  and  some- 
times in  German;  they  were  of  great  service  in  awaking 
the  ])eo[)le,  but  their  woi-k  did  not,  as  in  tlie  case  of 


86  MAETIN    BOEHM, 

Otterbem  and  Boehm,  result  in  any  permanent  organ- 
ization. At  this  time  it  was  more  or  less  common  to  hold 
what  were  then  called  great  meetings.  These  were 
simply  gatherings  of  people  who  had  similar  beliefs 
and  experiences,  where  pi'eachers  of  different  church 
communities  would  preach  and  exhort.  They  were 
held  in  barns,  houses,  in  the  woods,  as  was  most  con- 
venient, and  lasted  for  about  two  days.  These 
Virginia  preachers  aided  Mr.  Boehm  in  holding  these 
great  meetings.  Rev.  Samuel  Huber,  thus  describes 
one  of  these  "  Big  Meetings." 

"  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  brother  farmer 
to  give  out  an  appointment  for  a  big  meeting  to  be 
held  at  his  house,  and  it  was  expected  as  a  matter  of 
course,  that  the  people  attending  it  should  have  some- 
thing to  eat  while  there.  For  this  reason  provision  for 
the  people  and  provender  for  the  horses  were  prepared 
in  sufficient  quantities  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
expected  assemblage.  It  was  not  considered  a  strange 
thing  among  United  Brethren,  for  the  brother  at 
whose  house  the  meeting  Avas  to  be  held,  to  slaughter  a 
few  hogs,  sheep  or  calves  and,  on  extra  occasions,  a 
beef,  and  to  have  a  quantity  of  bread,  cakes  and  pies 
baked,  with  bushels  of  potatoes  and  other  vegetables, 
ready  for  use. 

"In  addition  to  these  preparations,  one  indispen- 
sable item  in  the  farmer's  utensils  needed  for  such  an 
occasion  was  a  large  table,  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  in 
length,  and  from  four  to  five  feet  in  breadth.  The  top  of 
it  was  made  of  good  old  tough  oak  or  pine  boards  from 
one  to  two  inches  in  thickness.  These  were  placed 
upon  a  frame  supported  by  feet  made  of  oak  or  pine 
scantling  from  three  to  four  inches  square.     The  table 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       87 

was  then  decorated  with  large  pewter  and  earthen 
dishes,  and  bowls,  which  were  placed  in  the  centre  as 
receptacles  for  eatables,  and  out  of  which  the  consumers 
were  supplied. 

"  These  big  meetings  were  attended  by  crowds  of 
people.  Some  came  from  a  great  distance.  The  hosts^ 
at  whose  houses  the  meetings  were  held  were  not 
scared  when  they  saw  carriages,  wagons,  and  vehicles 
of  all  sizes,  then  in  use,  drawn  by  four-legged  animals, 
and  loaded  with  saints  and  sinners  coming  to  the  meet- 
ings. Some  came  to  see,  and  to  be  seen ;  others  to 
hear  preaching.  In  man}^  instances  from  one  to  two 
hundred  persons  were  entertained  and  fed  during  the 
meeting,  together  with  their  horses.  At  the  meeting 
at  Daniel  Whistler's,  before  referred  to,  upwards  of 
four  hundred  persons  took  dinner  at  his  house  on  the 
Sabbath. 

"  But  while  the  brethren  were  thus  holding  meet- 
ings and  entertaining  people  free  of  charge  at  their 
houses,  it  was  often  remarked  by  other  persons  in 
respect  to  a  certain  individual,  that  he  would  be  eaten 
out  of  house  and  home  in  a  short  time.  Now,  I  do  not 
wish  to  say  that  a  person  who  is  distinguished  for  hos- 
pitality may  not  in  some  instances  become  bankrupt 
through  miscalculated  speculations  or  unforeseen  cir- 
cumstances. But  so  far  as  my  personal  knowledge 
extends,  I  have  never  known  a  person  who  became 
poor  in  worldly  affairs  hy  giving  of  his  substance  to  the 
cause  of  God. 

"  There  once  resided  in  Lancaster  Countv,  Pa.,  a 
brother  whose  house  was  a  general  rendezvous  for 
preachers  and  other  persons.  Father  Newcomer  said 
to  him  at  one  time  that  he  thought  the  preachers  Avere 


88  MARTIN   BOEHM, 

becoming  too  hard  on  him  by  putting  up  at  his  house 
too  often.  To  this  the  brother  replied :  '  If  you 
want  me  to  get  rich  in  the' world,  just  send  me  as  many 
people  as  you  can,  I  will  entertain  them  free  of  charge 
and  be  glad  to  do  it.'  He  carried  out  the  measure  of 
hospitality  to  its  full  extent  by  entertaining  all  .who 
came  to  him,  and  they  were  not  a  few.  He  increased 
in  woi:ldly  riches  to  a  great  extent,  and  fully  realized 
the  declaration  of  Scripture,  '  He  that  giveth  to  the 
poor,  lendeth  to  the  Lord,  and  that  which  he  hath 
given  shall  be  returned  to  him  again.' 

"  It  was  by  such  means  as  those  referred  to,  that 
the  United  Brethren  shed  a  salutary  influence  around 
them,  and  prevailed  on  the  people  to  come  to  their 
meetings.  They  counted  it  full  pay  for  their  trouble 
and  expense,  when  sinners  were  converted  and  be- 
lievers were  established  in  the  faith.  The  same  spirit 
of  hospitality  exists  among  many  of  them  at  this 
day."  * 

One  of  tliese  great  meetings  was  held  on  the  farm 
of  Israel  Long,  who  lived  about  six  miles  northeast 
of  Lancaster.  It  was  held  in  a  barn.  The  build- 
ing is  still  standing.  It  was  built  of  stone,  about 
180  feet  long  and  of  proportionate  width.  It 
contained,  on  the  floor  above  the  basement,  six 
mows.  There  were  three  of  the  Long  brothers  who 
Avere  converts  from  the  Mennonites,  under  Boehm's 
preaching.  They  were  prosperous  farmers,  who  soon 
became  interested  in  the  new  faith.  At  the  meeting 
held  at  Isaac  Long's,  parties  were  present  from  Lan- 
caster, York  and  Lebanon  Counties,  belonging  to  the 
Lutheran,  German  Keformed,  Mennonite,  and  possibly 

*  Huber's  AiUobiut,rapliy,  pp.  214-216. 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       89 

other  Churches.  One  of  the  Yirginia  preachers  before 
mentioned  was  present.  Most  of  those  who  S3anpa- 
thized  with  the  new  movement  were,  no  doubt,  brought 
into  the  light  through  the  labors  of  Otterbein  and 
Boehm,  On  such  an  occasion  an  unusual  interest 
would  be  manifested.  When  these  people  assembled 
on  similar  occasions  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  expected  and  sought,  and  He  did  not  disappoint 
the  wishes  of  the  people.  Otterbein  and  Boehm  had 
never  met  before.  Otterbein  is  now  present,  whether 
by  invitation  of  Boehm  or  of  his  own  choosing  we  do 
not  know.  His  preaching  before  this  had  brought  him 
within  a  short  distance  of  Mr.  Boehm's  residence,  bat  the 
sad  memories  of  the  cruel  persecutions  in  Switzerland 
and  the  great  difference  existing  bitterly  still  between 
the  German  Reformed  and  Mennonite  Churches,  may  ac- 
count for  this  lack  of  interest  in  each  other.  The  barn, 
after  being  filled,  would  not  contain  the  crowds  of 
people.  An  overflow  meeting  was  held  outside,  in  an 
orchard,  and  addressed  by  a  Virginia  preacher.  Not- 
withstanding the  falling  rain,  the  people  listened  with 
interest. 

Boehm  preached  inside  the  barn.  As  he  arises  to 
speak,  we  see  a  man  of  moderate  height,  with  long, 
flowing  beard  and  dressed  in  the  plain,  simple,  unos- 
tentatious manner  of  the  Mennonite  people.  Near  him 
sits  Otterbein,  a  larger  man  in  size,  of  fine  appear- 
ance, and  dressed  more  in  keeping  with  the  customs  of 
the  day.  These  men  are  about  fifty  years  of  age,  in 
the  prime  of  life,  and  both  of  them  wonderfully  in 
earnest  in  leading  men  to  the  truth.  Mr.  Otterbein 
listened  as  Boehm  unfolded  the  truth  of  the  gospel, 
as  he  uttered  with  exulting  freedom  and  I'esistless  force 


90  MARTIN    BOEHM, 

truths  that  his  own  mind  and  soul,  through  deep  pangs 
and  struggles,  had  apprehended.  As  Boehm  concluded 
his  sermon,  and  before  he  could  sit  down,  Mr.  Otter- 
bein,  moved  by  an  overpowering  conviction  of  new- 
found fellowship  in  the  truth,  clasped  Boehm  in  his 
arms,  and  exclaimed  "  We  are  brethren !"  In  view  of 
the  ecclesiastical  relations  of  these  men,  as  well  as  their 
previous  training  and  beliefs,  the  effect  was  wonderful. 
Unable  to  repress  their  emotions,  some  of  the  congre- 
gation praised  the  Lord  aloud,  but  the  greater  part  were 
bathed  in  tears,  and  all  hearts  seemed  melted  into  one. 
The  scene  would  form  a  picture  worthy  of  the  pen 
of  the  most  skillful  artist. 

Neither  Martin  Boehm  nor  any  others  of  the  workers 
at  this  time,  so  far  as  known  to  us,  thought  of  cutting 
loose  from  their  own  church  and  proceeding  to  estab- 
lish a  new  organization.  Surrounded  as  they  were  on 
all  sides,  by  a  dead  formality,  they  seem  to  have  been 
about  as  prudent  as  earnest  spiritual  teachers  could  be 
under  such  circumstances.  An  aggressive,  spiritual- 
minded  man  must  be  Yery  annoying  to  a  body  of 
church  members  who  are  resting  in  the  form  and  have 
lost  the  power  of  the  Spirit.  These  Mennonite 
brethren,  although  having  come  out  from  another 
church  themselves,  could  not  have  the  charity  neces- 
sary to  tolerate  withm  their  pale  a  man  who  saw  and 
taught  the  essential  truths  of  Christianity  in  a  manner 
different  from  that  in  which  they  saw  and  taught  them ; 
and  the  way  to  prevent  any  trouble,  was  to  cut  him  off 
from  their  household,  which  they  proceeded  to  do.  If 
he  was  sent  of  God  to  call  these  men  to  a  higher 
spiritual  life,  they  Avere  not  ready  to  leave  the  flesh- 
pots  of  Egypt,  so  they  turned  away  from  his  call,  and 
cast  him  out  of  their  vineyard. 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       91 

A  communication  sent  out  by  the  Mennonite 
bishops,  ministers  and  deacons  of  Lancaster  county 
and  adjacent  parts,  giving  reasons  for  the  expulsion  of 
Boelmi,  has  been  preserved  to  us.  There  are  in  it  tlie 
usual  indications  of  a  long  struggle  with  considerable 
irritation.  Mr.  Boehm  sought  to  satisfy  his  brethren, 
for  he  was  not  a  troublesome  man,  and  wanted  peace 
and  quiet.  But  they  insisted  that  he  must  desist  from 
the  course  which  he  had  been  pursuing,  and  this  he 
could  not  do.  The  paper  gives  an  ex  parte  statement 
of  the  case,  and  is  better  than  could  have  been  expected 
after  so  long  a  conflict. 

After  an  introduction  it  proceeds  as  follows :  "  Now, 
however,  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  between  us  and 
Martin  Boehm  there  is,  in  many  points,  a  difference  of 
views,  and  we  have,  at  times,  for  several  years  already, 
labored  to  become  more  of  one  mind,  and  to  understand 
each  other  better,  that  we  might  be  found  faithful 
laborers  in  the  Church  of  Christ;  which,  however,  has 
not  been  accomplished,  and  the  matter  has  from  time 
to  time  become  worse.  For  the  reason,  however,  that 
the  brotherhood  do  not  possess  as  good  a  knowledge  of 
the  cause  and  origin  of  this  disagreement  between  us, 
which  consists  of  many  things  both  in  words  and  deeds, 
as  we  do  (although  many  are  not  entirely  unacquainted 
with  it),  we  have  concluded  to  write  them  and  thus 
explain  the  matter.  In  the  first  place,  in  that  in  which 
we  believe  that  he  (Boehm)  erred  in  the  doctrine  of 
Christ,  he  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  forming  a  union 
and  associating  with  men  (professors)  who  allow  them- 
selves to  walk  on  the  broad  way,  preaching  warfare 
and  the  swearing  of  oaths,  both  of  which  are  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  truths  of  the  gospel  and  the  teachings 
of  Christ." 


92  MARTIN    BOEHM, 

It  is  also  stated  that  "  he  maintained  that  Satan 
was  a  benefit  to  man,"  and  declared  "  that  faith  cometh 
from  unbelief,  life  from  death,  and  light  from  darkness." 
It  is  also  stated  that  he  said  that  the  Scriptures  might 
be  burned,  and  that  the  "  Mennonite  ministers  laid  too 
much  stress  upon  the  ordinances."  It  is  also  said  that 
the  Church  could  no  longer  retain  Boehm  and  his 
followers  that  had  been  members  of  the  Church  as 
brethren,  and  that  they  should  be  excluded  from  the 
communion  and  counsels  of  the  brotherhood. 

The  real  reason  for  his  expulsion  was  the  part  that  he 
took  in  promoting  revivals  in  different  sections,  and  in 
his  fellowshiping  with  those  who  belonged  to  other 
churches.  Had  the  membership  been  anxious  to  retain 
in  their  number  a  man  so  pure,  earnest  and  childlike  as 
he  was,  a  li  ttle  difference  of  opinion  as  to  church  order, 
would  not  have  produced  a  separation,  especially  on 
the  part  of  a  man  who  was  as  prudent  and  discreet  as 
was  Boehm.  There  was  nothing  of  the  fanatical  or 
wild  enthusiast  in  his  nature.  When  requested  to 
desist  from  his  course,  "  he  said  he  could  not,  but  if 
it  could  be  shown  to  him  he  had  done  wronff,  he 
would  recall."     When  he  was  expelled  he  sang — 

"Oil!  thou  triumphant  King, 
How  did'st  thou  long  to  bring 
To  man  the  hope  of  life  and  heaven: 
Thyself  to  death,  for  even  me. 
Lord,  thou  hast  given." 

After  his  expulsion  he  continued  to  preach  yet 
more  and  more,  and  when  his  son  was  able  to  take 
charge  of  the  home  farm,  he  gave  himself  more 
generally  to  traveling  and  preaching.  Having  no 
settled  chari^o,  his  itinerant   labors   were   even   more 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THK  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       93 

extensive  than  those  of  Otterbein.  As  the  work  grew 
and  widened  under  the  labors  of  each,  there  soon  came 
a  time  when  for  the  general  good  there  should  be  more 
active  cooperation,  and  henceforth  their  labors  are 
united.  At  the  first  conference,  held  in  1789,  in 
Otterbein's  ])arsonage,  Mr.  Boehm,  with  others,  was 
present.  He  had  been  formally  expelled  for  the 
evangelical  views  which  he  held,  and  the  methods 
which  he  practiced,  hence  he  was  now  without  eccle- 
siastical restraint.  Before  this  time  there  had  been 
on  the  part  of  Otterbein  and  Boehm,  informal  confer- 
ences with  the  lay  preachers,  at  the  great  meetings. 
Otterbein  and  Boehm,  because  of  their  relations  to 
these  men  and  the  societies,  most  of  whom  had  reached 
their  present  positions  through  their  labors,  and 
because  of  their  eminent  fitness  for  the  work,  were 
universally  accepted  as  the  leaders  of  this  movement. 
The  following  licenses  will  show  the  position  held  by 
them  down  to  1800: 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  hereby  witness  that  David 
Snyder,  in  West  Bans  Fori  Township,  Cumberland 
County,  Pa.,  stands  among  us  as  a  preacher  of  the 
gospel,  by  our  consent. 

"  Given  by  us  at  Peter  Kemp's,  Frederick  County, 
Md.,  September  24,  1801. 

"  W.  Otterbein,  V.  D.  M. 
"  Martin  Boehm." 

Newcomer's  journal  covers  but  a  small  portion  of 
the  time  when  Boehm  Avas  an  active  preacher,  but 
again  and  again,  reference  is  made  to  his  wonderful 
power  and  success.  May  1,  lT96,"In  the  afternoon  Bro- 
ther Boehm  gave  an  interesting  discourse."  May  4,  "This 
morning  we  crossed  the  Schuylkill  river;  Brother  Boehm, 


94  MARTIN    BOEHM, 

Kram,  and  two  more  were  in  compan3^"  October  14, 
"This  day  a  three  days'  meeting  commenced  at 
Brother  Martin  Boehm's."  June  6,  "I  rode  home  with 
Brother  Boehm;  alter  family  prayers,  when  we  were 
just  about  to  retire  to  bed,  a  son  of  Brother  Boehm's, 
who  lives  about  nine  miles  distant,  arrived  at  the  home 
of  his  parents.  He  had  lately  embraced  religion,  had 
found  the  pearl  of  great  price,  was  yet  in  his  first  love, 
of  course  very  happy,  so  much  so  that  he  expressed 
himself  in  ecstacy  of  his  enjoying  heaven  and  the  smiles 
of  his  Savior  and  Redeemer  here  on  earth;  his  mother, 
Sister  Boehm,  was  so  rejoiced  at  the  happiness  of  her 
youngest  son,  that  she  could  not  help  shouting  and 
praising  God  for  the  blessing.  The  father  also  got 
happy,  and  so  we  had  a  blessed  time  of  it  until  after 
midnight."  1799,  May  22,  "Thursday  a  great  multitude 
of  people  had  assembled;  Brother  Boehm  s])oke  with 
uncommon  power."  May,  Sunday,  25,  "This  morning 
Brother  Boehm  preached  the  first  discourse  with  great 
power."  May  26,  "To-day  Brother  Boehm  preached 
again  before  the  sacrament  on  the  sufferings  and  death 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  extraordinary  power; 
every  heart  present  was  touched  and  tendered."  Sunday, 
81st,"This  forenoon  Father  Boehm  preached  in  Haieser's 
meeting  house."  September  2,  "Father  Boehm 
preached  with  great  power.  Sunday,  9th,  "Father 
Boehm  followed  me.  The  word  made  a  great  impres- 
sion." 10th,  "Father  Boehm  spoke  to  the  people  with 
uncommon  power.  The  power  of  the  Lord  .came 
down."  '  11th,  "Father  Boehm  followed  me.  He  had 
not  spoken  long,  when,  quite  unexpectedh'^,  several 
persons  rose  simultaneously  on  their  feet,  clasping  and 
shaking  their  hands,  and   shouting  and   praising   God 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRJ:THREN  IN  CHRIST.       95 

with  ecstacy  of  joy/'  19th,  "Father  Boehra  spoke  with 
great  zeal  and  power  from  these  words,  'Set  thine 
house  in  order,  for  thou  shalt  die  and  not  live.  ' " 
Sunda}^  Tth,  "Anotlier  sermon  was  delivered  by  Father 
Boehra,  and  we  had  a  blessed  meeting."  Sunday,  3d, 
"Father  Boehm  preached  this  forenoon  with  great 
power  and  effect."  Sunday,  26th,  "Father  Boehm 
preached  this  morning  with  great  power."  And  so  the 
record  goes  on,  page  after  page,  showing  how  faithful 
an  itinerant  this  man  was,  and  how  zealously  he 
labored  to  build  up  the  Master's  kingdom. 

In  1800  the  conference  met  at  Peter  Kemp's.  Says 
Newcomer  in  his  journal,  "The  conference  was  opened 
with  singing  and  prayer  by  Otterbein  and  Boehm.  The 
former  gave  a  powerful  exhortation.  Then  were  all 
the  brethren  present  separately  examined  in  regard  to 
their  progress  in  the  divine  life,  and  their  success 
and      industry      in      preaching.  This       forenoon 

Father  Otterbein  preached  from  Amos  iv.,  12. 
Boehm  spoke  after  him;  after  transacting  some  other 
business  the  conference  closed  with  prayer."  The 
first  General  Conference  was  made  up  in  part  of  the 
same  members  who  composed  this,  and  they  said  of  the 
former  body,  that,  "they  there  united  themselves  into 
a  society  which  bears  the  name  of  the  United  Brethren 
in  Christ,  and  elected  William  Otterbein  and  Martin 
Boehm,  as  superintendents  and  bishops."  Henry 
Boehm,  who  was  present  at  the  time  says  of  tliis  confer- 
ence: "  They  elected  bishops  for  the  first  time  ;  William 
Otterbein  and  Martin  Boehm,  my  father  were  unani- 
mously chosen."  He  was  at  this  time  seventy-five  years 
of  age.     He  was  reelected  in  1805. 

The  following  incidents  have  been  preserved  to  us 


96  MAETIN   BOElIMj 

concerning  this  faithful  man  :  "  At  one  time,  a  certain 
Mr.  ^V.,  being  anxious  to  hear  what  this  false  prophet 
would  say,  after  many  forebodings  and  fears  upon  the 
subject,  at  length  took  courage  to  go  and  hear  him  ; 
such,  however,  was  his  apprehension  of  evil  lest  he 
should  become  sj^ell-hound  and  bewitched  by  the 
preacher  that,  with  great  caution,  he  took  his  seat  be- 
hind the  door,  thinking,  no  doubt,  should  he  feel  the 
moving  of  the  spell  upon  him,  he  could  make  a  rapid 
egress  before  he  would  be  completely  bound  up.  Whilst 
hearing  the  word  preached,  he  thought  the  whole  dis- 
course was  directed  to  him  alone.  He  also  afterwards 
blamed  my  father  for  telling  the  preacher  all  about 
him,  although  my  father  had  not  spoken  to  him  upon 
the  subject.  But  such  were  the  effects  of  God's  w^ord 
upon  his  heart  that  he  became  deeply  concerned  for  the 
salvation  of  his  soul.  His  convictions  increased  during 
some  months.  In  the  fall  he  had  neglected  to  haul  in 
his  firewood,  .and  so  was  unprepared  for  winter.  A 
heavy  snow  had  fallen ;  while  pondering  over  his  sit- 
uation it  was  suggested  to  his  mind  that  as  he  had  not 
made  prej^aration  for  cold  weather,  even  so  he  was 
also  unprepared  to  meet  death.  His  conviction  became 
deeper.  Feeling  his  Avretched  condition,  he  fell  upon 
his  knees  and  wrestled  with  God  until  he  found  peace 
to  his  soul,  and  afterwards  his  wife  and  five  children 
also  embraced  religion.  Five  of  the  family  have  since 
passed  over  Jordan,  and  the  remaining  two  are  still  on 
their  w^ay  to  Zion,  giving  thanks  to  God  for  having 
sent  those  loonderful  preachers  into  their  neighbor- 
hood. This  is  wdiat  was  called  bewitching  the  people 
in  those  days.  Such  was  the  ignorance  and  prejudice 
of  the  times. 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.       9Y 

"  At  a  meeting  held  by  Father  Boehm,  in  the  open 
field  near  York,  Pa.,  a  great  many  people  attended. 
In  those  days  men  wore  large  boots  and  spurs. 
Among  the  attendants  at  the  meeting  was  a  certain 
Dr.  Peter  Senseny,  who  walked  about  the  grounds 
having  his  legs  ensconced  within  a  large  pair  of  riding 
boots  and  spurs.  Father  Boehm,  in  expiating  on 
the  wickedness  of  the  times,  exclaimed  :  '  Some  per- 
sons are  going  to  hell  with  boots  and  spurs  on  their 
legs  ! '  These  words  entered  the  ears  of  Senseny  with 
impressive  force.  Going  to  hell  with  boots  and  spurs ! 
Going  to  hell  with  boots  and  spurs !  continued  to 
reverberate  in  his  mind,  producing  serious  reflections 
in  regard  to  the  course  of  his  life ;  and  finding  himself 
on  the  broad  road  to  hell,  '  he  was  convicted  of  the 
error  of  his  ways,  sought  the  Lord,  and  obtained  a 
change  of  heart.'  "  * 

"At  one  time  Mr.  Boehm  was  to  preach  on  the 
Conewago,  Pa.  Mr.  Brand  had  offered  him  tlie  use  of 
his  house.  His  neighbor,  Mr.  B.  Carper,  was  highly 
offended  that  Brand  should  bring  one  of  those  so-called 
false  prophets  and  deceivers  among  us;  and  the  more 
so,  as  it  was  generally  reported  that  they  had  such 
bewitching  power  over  the  people,  that  when  they 
once  get  into  a  family,  there  was  no  knowing  wdiere 
matters  would  end,  as  in  many  cases  they  had  caught 
whole  families." 

Carper  concluded  to  make  short  work  of  such  de- 
ceivers. "  So,  when  Boehm  came  to  preach  at  Brandt's 
house,  I  went  there  intending  to  kill  him,  and  as  I  was 
a  strong,  stout  man,  not  fearing  half  a  dozen  men  at  a 
time,  I  had  made  up  niy  mind  how  to  take  the  preacher. 

*  Huber,  p.  14. 
7 


98  MARTIN    BOEHM, 

When  he  would  come  out  of  the  door  after  preaching, 
I  intended  to  pounce  upon  him,  and  with  one  blow 
knock  him  down,  then  jump  upon  him  and  kill  him. 
So,  while  he  was  preaching,  1  stood  outside  of  the 
house,  waiting  until  he  would  be  done  and  come  out; 
at  the  same  time  I  was  listening  to  his  discourse.  It 
appeared  to  me  that  Brandt  had  told  Boehm  about  my- 
self, what  sort  of  a  man  I  was.  The  word  preached 
went  into  my  heart  like  arrows  from  a  strong  bow.  In 
an  instant  a  fearful  trembling  came  over  me.  I  took 
to  my  heels  and  ran  home  as  fast  as  my  legs  could 
carry  me.  When  I  came  to  the  house,  my  fears  in- 
creased so  much  that  I  was  at  first  afraid  to  enter  it  in 
the  dark." 

He  had  a  dreadful  night.  Next  morning  he  took 
his  axe  and  went  to  the  woods,  and  saw  a  "  bearded 
man"  coming  towards  him.  He  threw  away  his  axe 
and  ran.  When  he  reached  the  fence  and  went  to  leap 
over,  "another  bearded  man''  met  him.  ''He  took 
hold  of  me  and  pulled  me  down  from  off  the  fence. 
The  first  man  then  jumped  upon  me.  It  appeared  that 
when  these  men  held  me  down,  the  earth  opened  and 
1  went  down  into  hell.  My  body  hij  in  that  fence 
corner  nearly  the  whole  day.  I  knew  nothing  of  this 
world  during  that  time.  After  I  recovered  I  found 
myself  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.  I  rejoiced  that 
I  was  brought  out  of  the  thralldom  of  the  devil,  and 
liberated  from  hell  when  I  thought  the  devil  had  me. 
After  this  I  had  no  desire  to  kill  the  false  prophets,  so- 
called,  but  found  them  to  be  God's  true  preachers,  who 
preached  his  word  faithfull}'."  * 

At  an  early  day,  perhaps  about  1Y77,  Methodist 

*  Huber,  p.  47, 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.       99 

preachers  began  to  call  at  tlie  house  of  Martin  Boehm. 
He,  like  Otterbein,  Geeting,  Newcomer  and  others, 
was  on  the  most  friendly  terms  with  these  Christian 
people.  Their  chief  work  was  among  the  English- 
speaking  people,  hence  they  grew  more  rapidly  than 
did  the  Brethren.  The  wife  of  Boehm  and  some  of  his 
children  united  with  them,  and  the  son  Henry  became 
a  preacher  among  them  and  a  traveling  companion  to 
Bishop  Asbury.  After  a  time  a  chapel  was  built  on 
land  owned  by  Jacob  Boehm,  which  had  been  deeded 
to  him  by  his  father.  Both  societies,  the  United  Breth- 
ren and  the  Methodists,  for  some  time  enjoN'ed  the 
freest  use  of  the  house  for  church  services.  From  the 
earliest  times  the  Methodists  had  rigid  rules  concerning 
admission  to  their  class  meetings  and  love  feasts.  Two 
or  three  times  admission  was  all  that  was  allowed,  un- 
less they  became  members.  The  rules  have  been  pretty 
strictly  adhered  to  even  in  later  years.  In  1802  Martin 
Boehm's  name  was  allowed  to  go  on  the  class  book  as 
a  nominal  member,  so  he  might  have  the  privilege  of 
attending  their  meetings.  In  1809  terms  of  union  were 
agreed  upon,  by  means  of  which  the  members  of  one 
church  could  be  admitted  to  sacraments,  love  feasts  and 
class  meetings  of  the  other,  upon  a  knowledge  of  the 
fact  that  they  w^ere  in  good  standing  in  their  own 
churches.  Boehm's  name  is  signed  with  Geeting's  and 
Newcomer's  to  the  letter  sent  to  the  Methodist  con- 
ference in  1809, 

Mr.  Spa3'th's  testimony  on  this  matter  seems  very 
positive  and  direct:  "  Boehm  told  the  writer  of  this  arti- 
cle, that  though  his  name  was  on  the  class  book,  he  did 
not  consider  himself  actually  a  member  of  the  church, 
and  gave  as  a  reason,  that  his  name  was  never  placed 


100  MARTIN    BOEHM, 

on  the  papers  either  by  his  design  or  request.  Now  be 
it  known  then,  that  a  meeting  house  was  built  on 
Boehm's  own  kind  at  an  early  day,  to  which  he  and  the 
United  Brethren  had  contributed  freely,  but  it  was 
managed  by  the  Methodists,  who  but  a  short  time  be- 
fore had  begun  to  preach  in  Lancaster  count}^  The 
Methodists  and  the  United  Brethren  then  were  like  the 
Christians  of  old,  one  heart  and  one  mind  in  their  reli- 
gious devotions.  But  the  day  also  came  when  the 
Methodist  preacher  laid  exclusive  claim  to  the  meeting 
house,  and  father  Boehm  himself  was  threatened  with 
being  shut  out  of  this  meeting  house,  and  was  told  that 
he  could  not  be  indulged  to  remain  in  a  class  meeting 
or  love  feast.  Here  was  a  difficulty  to  be  overcome. 
To  cure  this  he  was  advised  to  have  his  name  appear  on 
the  class  hook  for  foi'm^s  sake.  This  he  meekl}?-,  but 
hrmly  refused  to  consent  to;  but  was  threatened  as 
above,  entreated  and  begged  so  long  that  he  with  great 
reluctance  consented  that  his  name  might  go  on  the 
class  book,  at  least  for  form's  sake.  Yet  it  should  be 
distinctly  understood  at  the  same  time  that  he  thereby 
had  not  actually  become  a  Methodist ;  and  the  sequel 
proved  the  fact,  for  he  would  not  conform  to  any  other 
part  of  their  church  government  as  a  minister  or  pri- 
vate member,  nor  was  he  ever  known  at  home  or  abroad 
as  a  Methodist  preacher  to  the  day  of  his  death. '^ 

In  conclusion,  on  this  topic,  we  would  remark  that 
Brother  Boehm's  relation  to  the  Brethren  Church  was 
unbroken  from  first  to  last.  This  our  annual  confer- 
ence proceedings  sufficiently  show;  thus  in  1800,  in  con- 
nection with  Otterbein,  he  was  elected  Bishop.  He 
was  prevented  by  sickness  from  attending  the  confer- 

*  Bdigious  Telescope,  Aug.  17,  1843. 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    101 

ence'  of  1801 ;  he  attended  the  conference  in  Maryland 
in  3  802.  lie  was  ^'e-^iected  Bishop  in  1805,  and  attended 
the: conference  l^fl'ipO,  which  was  the  last  this  devoted 
servant  of  the  ISiord  Jenjoyed  with  his  brethren  in  the 
Church  on  earM»i4*^,From  this  time  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  great  age,  -with  its  accompanying  infirmities, 
alone  preve:^ed  i^t^  from  attending  an  annual  con- 
ference.   -■'■^         '"^ 

Martin  5^^^  asleep  in  Jesus,  March  23,  1812. 

His  days  of ^ness  were  few.  For  a  person  of  his  age 
he  had  enjoyed  a  remarkably  good  state  of  health.  He 
Avas  still  active  and  able  to  ride  some  short  distance  till 
within  a  few  days  of  his  dissolution.  But  death  was 
to  come,  and  it  did  come,  and  found  this  servant  of  the 
Lord  read3\  The  icy  hand  of  death  diminished  the 
vital  flame  gradually  and  without  much  pain.  No  one 
thought  him  near  dying  at  the  first  indisposition,  but 
death  btid  begun  to  loose  the  silver  cord,  and  to  show 
its  effects,  by  sj'mptoms  of  increasing  debility  and 
Aveakness.  He  asked  to  be  raised  upon  the  bed,  said  he 
wished  to  sing  and  pray  once  more  before  he  left,  which 
he  did  with  a  clear  and  distinct  voice.  This  done,  he 
desired  to  be  laid  back  upon  his  pillow,  and,  behold, 
he  was  no  more. 

Henry  Boehm,  his  son,  was  a  traveling  companion 
of  Bishop  Asbur}^  The  latter  was  holding  a  confer- 
ence at  Leesburg,  Virginia,  and  shortly  before  its  close 
the  Bishop  said  to  Henry,  "as  soon  as  conference  ad- 
journs you  must  have  the  horses  ready  and  we  must  go 
right  to  your  father's."  He  Avas  reminded  of  appoint- 
ments not  yet  filled,  but  he  would  not  hear  to  any  de 
lay.  It  was  about  one  hundred  miles  to  reach  Martin 
Boehin's.     The  Bishop  seemed  to  have  a  presentiment 


102  kAiRTIN  boehM, 

of  Boehm's  death.  They  started  ;  when  they  came 
within  a  mile  of  the  old  homestead,  they  heard  for  the 
first  time  of  his  death.  The  Bisho])  makes  this  record: 
"  Friday,  a  cold  disagreeable  ride  brought  us  across  the 
country  to  Samuel  Bookley's.  Here  I  received  the  first 
intelligence  of  the  death  of  my  dear  old  friend,  Martin 
Boehm."  "  Sabbath,  April  5th,  I  preached,  at  the 
Boehm  Chapel,  the  funeral  sermon  of  Martin  Boehm, 
and  gave  my  audience  some  interesting  particulars  of 
his  life."  The  text  was,  "  Behold  an  Israelite  indeed  in 
whom  there  is  no  guile."  The  crowd  was  large  and  the 
occasion  was  one  of  mournful  interest.  The  Bishop 
drew  the  character  of  his  lifetime  friend  with  great 
exactness.  He  said,  "  Martin  Boehm  was  plain  in  dress 
and  manners.  When  age  had  stamped  its  impress  of 
reverence  upon  him,  he  filled  the  mind  with  the  noble 
idea  of  a  patriarch  ;  at  the  head  of  a  family,  a  father, 
a  neighbor,  a  friend,  a  companion,  the  prominent  fea- 
ture of  his  character  was  goodness.  You  felt  that  he 
was  good.  His  mind  w^as  strong  and  well  stored  with, 
the  learning  necessary  for  one  whose  aim  is  to  preach 
Christ  w'ith  apostolic  zeal  and  simplicity." 

Says  Henry  Boehm  :  "After  the  Bishop  had  finished 
his  impressive  discourse,  which  was  listened  to  with 
tears  and  sighs  by  a  numerous  auditory,  he  called  on 
me  to  speak.  I  endeavored  to  do  so,  but  when  I  stood 
in  the  pulpit  where  I  had  so  often  beheld  my  father,  in 
the  church  that  bore  his  name,  with  my  venerable 
mother  before  me  tottering  over  the  grave,  my  rela- 
tives all  around  me  ;  w^here  T  could  look  out  of  the 
window  on  the  burying-ground  and  see  the  new-made 
grave  of  ni}^  father,  ni}"  eyes  filled  with  tears,  and  I 
was  so  overcome  that  I  could  only  utter,  'Let  silence 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    103 

speak.'  The  people  Avere  deeply  affected  all  over  the 
liouse.  There  was  weeping  from  many  eyes.  My 
father  was  greatly  beloved  in  life,  and  deeply  lamented 
in  death."* 

His  remains  rest  in  the  cemetery  near  his  meeting 
house,  overlooking  the  old  homestead. 

He  had  attained  the  age  of  eighty-six  years  three 
months  and  eleven  da^^s.  He  had  preached  the  gospel 
iov  fifty  four  years. 

*  Boehm's  Reminiscences,  p.  376. 


GEORGE  ADAM  GEETING, 
THIRD  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


OlSTE  of  the  intimate  personal  friends  of  Otterbein, 
his  fellow  churchman  and  faithful  co-laborer, 
and  who  was  the  first  one  called  upon  to  bear  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  new  movement,  by  suffering  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  church  expulsion,  Was  George  Adam  Geet- 
ing.  He  was  born  February  6, 1741.  in  Nassau,  Prussia, 
He  was  brought  up  in  the  Reformed  Church.  He  was 
scholarly,  as  was  his  associate  Otterbein,  but  along 
with  his  native  German  he  had  some  knowledge  of 
Latin,  and  his  literary  attainments  were  fair.  He 
labored  as  a  miner.  He  came  to  this  country  when 
about  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  located  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Antietam,  where  he  made  his  home  for  the 
remainder  of  his  life. 

After  his  arrival  in  this  country  and  his  settlement 
in  his  new  home,  he  spent  his  summers  in  quarrjang 
stone,  digging  wells,  and  such  emplojnTients,  and  his 
winters  in  teaching  school.  This  section  of  countrv 
had  been  visited  by  Reformed  ministers  from  Fred- 
erick. Mr.  Otterbein,  in  going  to  Frederick  about 
1760,  preached  at  Antietam.  Young  Geeting  was 
brought  under  the  saving  influence  of  the  gospel,  and 
soon  proved  himself  a  chosen  servant  of  the  Lord. 
When  Otterbein  moved  to  York  his  visits  here  Avere 
less  frequent.  As  there  were  long  intervals  between 
the  times  for  preaching,  and  the  people  needed  spiritual 
instruction,  the  schoohiiaster  of  tlie  village,  Mr.  Geet- 

104 


THIRD  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BEETHEEN  IN  CHEIST.       105 

ing,  was  frequently  called  on  to  read  sermons  for  the 
edification  of  the  congregation.  His  services  were  very 
valuable  to  the  people.  When  Otterbein  learned  of  the 
good  effects  resulting  from  Geeting's  reading,  and  his 
faithful  efforts  to  supply  the  wants  of  a  pastor,  he 
directed  that  on  the  following  Sabbath,  when  he  came 
to  read  again,  some  one  of  the  brethren  should  take  his 
book  from  his  hand  and  leave  him  to  the  expression  of 
his  own  thoughts. 

At  the  time  appointed,  a  Mr.  Jacob  Hess  stepped 
forward  and  took  the  book  from  his  hand.  Mr.  Geeting 
hesitated  for  a  moment  or  two,  and  then  began  to  talk, 
making  a  very  interesting  and  impressive  ad- 
dress. From  this  day  forward  preaching  was  the 
special  work  of  his  life.  This  was  about  1TT2.  He 
became  a  very  influential  and  faithful  co-laborer  with 
Otterbein  and  Boehm  in  the  work  which  they  had 
already  commenced.  Pie  was  ordained  in  1783,  in  the 
Antietam  Church,  by  Mr.  Otterbein  and  Eev.  William 
Hendel.  This  was  a  somewhat  irregular  ordination, 
and  it  is  not  known  that  he  had  any  other,  but  his 
ordination  was  afterward  recognized  as  sufficient. 

We  have  already  said  elsewhere,  that  these  earnest- 
minded,  pious,  devoted  people  who  were  found  here 
and  there,  in  order  that  they  might  have  the  benefit  of 
each  other's  counsel  and  association,  although  members 
of  different  churches,  met  at  stated  times  and  places  for 
worship.  Minutes  of  the  meetings  held  by  the  United 
Ministers  to  arrange  for  the  supervision  of  these  people, 
were  kept,  and  some  of  them  have  lately  been  found. 
At  a  meeting  held  May  29,  1774,  it  was  agreed  that 
"  the  ministers  at  Antietam  were  to  meet  every  Sun- 
day in  two  classes.     George  Adam  Geeting  and  Samuel 


106  GEORGE    ADA^[    GEETING, 

Becker  are  appointed  leaders.  They  are  to  meet  alter- 
nately at  the  church,  and  at  Conrad  Schwabel's  or 
where  else  the  leaders  may  direct.'^  At  the  ministers 
meeting,  June  12,  1775,  it  was  said  of  the  Antietam 
class,  "  they  are  again  at  peace,  after  a  slight  disturb- 
ance' and  meet  on  Sundays.  "  On  October  15,  1775, 
it  is  said,  "The  friends  at  Antietam  are  at  peace  and 
hold  their  meetings  according  to  our  rules."  June  2, 
1770  :  "  The  friends  at  Antietam  continue  at  peace  and 
are  prosperous."  The  records,  as  we  have  seen,  go  to 
show  that  Mr.  Geeting  must  have  been  a  judicious 
leader  who  knew  how  to  care  for  his  flock  and  to  lead 
them  into  green  pastures  and  beside  the  still  waters. 

From  1776  the  preachers  engaged  in  this  revival 
work  came  together  at  least  once  a  year,  generally  at 
some  great  meeting,  and  counseled  over  their  work  and 
encouraged  one  another.  At  one  of  these  meetings  it 
was  agreed  to  hold  a  conference  with  all  the  preachers 
"in  order  to  take  into  consideration  in  what  manner 
they  might  be  most  useful."  This  first  conference  was 
held  in  1789,  in  Baltimore,  in  Otterbein's  parsonage. 
Among  the  names  first  mentioned  here,  is  that  of 
George  A.  Geeting,  who  is  thus  recognized  as  one  of  the 
faithful  co-laborers  in  the  good  work.  The  next  formal 
conference  was  held  in  1791,  and  George  A.  Geeting  is 
again  mentioned. 

His  ministry  appears  to  have  been  very  effective. 
Like  the  others  of  his  time,  he  seems  to  have  been  a 
persistent  itinerant,  going  wherever  the  way  seemed 
open  to  ^lim.  Bishop  I^ewcomer,  again  and  again 
makes  mention  of  his  travels,  and  his  faithful,  effective 
preaching.  In  his  journal,  April  26,  1796,  he  says : 
"  This  day,  I  came,  in  company  with  brother  George 


THIKD  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      107 

Geeting,  at  what  is  called  Berner's  Church,  but  we 
were  not  permitted  to  preach  there,  so  brother  Geeting 
spoke  in  the  graveyard  adjoining  the  Church,  to  a 
numerous  congregation,  ^vitll  remarkable  power."  29th: 
"We  held  a  meeting  at  a  place  called  Black  Eidge 
Church  ;  here  were  also  refused  to  preach  in  the  Church, 
and  Brother  Geeting  spoke  in  the  school  house  adjoin- 
ing. "  May  1st :  "  This  forenoon  Brother  Geeting  spoke 
to  the  people  with  demonstration  and  power.  I  think 
not  a  few  were  convinced  of  their  awful  situation."  "  On 
the  14th,  15th  and  16th,  we  held  a  three  day's  meeting 
at  the  Antietam,  not  far  from  Brother  Geeting's." 
"  Sept.  19th  :  Left  home  on  a  journey  to  Virginia.  20th  : 
I  reached  Newtown ;  here  I  met  Brother  Geeting." 
Sunday,  21:th:  "  This  forenoon  Brother  Geeting  preached 
with  remarkable  power,  from  these  words,  'Whosoever 
will  be  my  disciple,  let  him  take  up  his  cross  and  follow 
me.' "  Sunday,  Oct.  1st :  "  Brother  Geeting  preached 
with  power  and  unction  from  above."  Oct.  5th :  "  I 
again  set  off  in  company  with  Brother  Geeting  on  a 
journey  to  Pennsylvania.  Sunday,  8th :  In  the  after- 
noon Brother  Geeting  preached  with  great  blessing." 
17th  :  '•  Had  a  meeting  to-day  about  six  miles  from  Lan- 
caster ;  Brother  Geeting  spoke  with  great  power." 
"  June  10th,  Sunday  :  Brother  Geeting  spoke  with  un- 
common power  and  grace.  June  11th  :  Brother  Geeting 
preached  here  (Harrisburg)  in  the  German  Eeformed 
Church.  12th  :  To-day  we  crossed  the  Susquehanna 
river;  the  corner-stone  of  a  Union  Church  was  to  be 
laid,  where  Christian  preachers  of  all  denominations 
are  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  preaching.  Such  a  pro- 
ceeding I  had  never  witnessed,  therefore  I  concluded 
to  go.     Brother  Geeting  was  requested  to  deliver  the 


108  GEORGE   ADAM    GEETING, 

first  discourse ;  he  preached  with  uncommon  power. 
14th:  This  da}'^  we  preached  at  Bobenmeyer's  Church 
in  Cumberland  county ;  by  all  appearance  the  word 
spoken  had  but  little  impression;  when  I  had  concluded 
speaking,  Brother  Geeting  once  more  arose  and  ad- 
dressed the  congregation  in  the  most  pathetic  manner, 
entreating  them  with  tears  to  be  reconciled  to  God  and 
flee  the  wrath  to  come.  This,  by  the  grace  of  God,  had 
the  desired  effect ;  the  hearts  of  the  people  were  made 
tender;  tears  flowed  abundantly  and  sinners  inquired 
what  to  do  to  be  saved." 

Thus  it  goes  on  until  the  death  of  the  good  man  is 
recorded.  Perhaps  no  one  traveled  more  extensively 
nor  labored  more  efficiently  than  did  this  man.  A  fel- 
low churchman  of  Mr.  Otterbein,  and  most  likely  one 
of  his  own  converts,  after  he  had  started  this  new 
movement,  he  would  no  doubt  exert  an  influence  on 
Otterbein  as  the  latter  did  on  him.  There  is  no  one  in 
whom  he  confided  more  freely,  nor  no  associations  that 
afforded  him  more  pleasure  than  those  enjoyed  with 
Mr.  Geeting. 

Spaytli  says  of  the  relations  of  these  two  men : 
"Brother  Geeting's  Eome  was  Otterbein's  retreat,  his 
headquarters  when  out  of  Baltimore.  Perhaps  never 
loved  tw^o  men  better,  nor  for  a  longer  period  of  time, 
than  Otterbein  and  Geeting  loved  each  other.  Brother 
Geeting's  was  also  the  council  house  for  the  preachers 
far  and  near.  He  was  much  looked  to  for  counsel,  for 
advice,  for  instruction;  and  such  was  the  love  toward 
him  and  the  confidence  in  him,  that  his  word  had  much 
of  the  authority  of  law,  and  his  counsel  was  as  the 
counsel  of  the  ancients ;  and  this  was  given  on  his  hand 
with  such  humility  and  tenderness  of  love,  that  the  im- 


THIRD  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHKEX  IN  CHRIST.       109 

pression  could  never  be  forgotten  nor  effaced.  How 
faithfully  he  performed  the  work  allotted  to  him  in  the 
ministry  of  the  Brethren  Church,  was  exemplified  in 
the  forty  years  of  his  illustrious  life,  spent  joyfully  in 
the  Divine  Master." 

A  meeting  house  was  built  near  Mr.  Geeting's  place 
about  1780.  This  was  most  likely  the  first  Church 
erected  by  the  followers  of  Otterbein.  The  ground 
was  never  deeded  to  any  organization,  and  the  build- 
ing, a  humble  log  structure,  was  a  result  of  the  good 
will  and  combined  labors  of  the  community.  In  later 
3'ears  it  was  called  the  Geeting  Meeting  House.  Mr. 
Geeting  was  for  a  time  a  kind  of  pastor  over  this  little 
society,  although  his  labors  as  we  have  seen  in  New- 
comer s  journal  were  like  those  of  the  other  itinerants 
associated  with  him,  and  in  that  day  it  meant  extensive 
traveling,  continuous  preaching  and  much  trial  and  ex- 
posure. 

The  course  of  Mr.  Geeting,  like  that  of  Mr.  Otter- 
bein, Avas  not  satisfactory  to  the  leaders  in  the  Re- 
formed Church.  His  name  appears  among  the  minis- 
ters of  the  Synod  up  to  the  year  1804,  though  he  was  usu- 
ally absent  and  excused.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Synod  in 
Reading,  April  29,  180-1,  "  complaints  were  preferred 
against  Mr.  Geeting  on  account  of  disorderly  conduct." 
The  question  was  put,  "Shall  the  matter  in  relation  to 
Mr.  Geeting  be  j)Ostponed  another  year  and  he  be  earn- 
estly admonished  to  abstain  from  his  disorderl}"  con- 
duct, or  shall  he,  according  to  the  proposition  of  Mr. 
Becker,  be  expelled  from  Synod  without  any  delay." 
After  a  lengthy  discussion,  in  which  reasons  were  as- 
signed in  favor  of  and  against  the  proposition  submitted, 
fit  was  resolved  that  he  be  expelled  from  the  Synod. 


110  GEORGE    ADAM   GEETING, 

This  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  twenty  against 
seventeen.  He  can  at  any  time  be  restored  on  giving 
evidence  of  true  reformation."  (Minutes  1S04.)  Har- 
baugh  in  "Fathers  of  the  Reformed  Church,"  says: 
"  Highly  fanatical  proceedings  on  his  part  seem  to  have 
led  to  his  expulsion.  He  continued  ministering  in  har- 
mony with  the  Brethren  till  his  death.  He  spent  forty 
years  in  the  ministry,  though  wildl}^  fanatical  and  as 
such  badh^  suited  to  be  a  leader  of  God's  people.  He 
seems  to  have  been  personally  a  good  man.  " 

Dr.  Dubbs,  in  his  "Historic  Manual,"  refers  to  the 
same  matter  in  these  words  :  "At  the  same  time  he  (Ot- 
terbein)  labored  as  an  evangelist  especially  in  Maryland 
and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  religious 
movement  which  he  had  helped  to  inaugurate.  One 
at  least  of  the  original  class  leaders,  John  (George) 
Adam  Geeting,  was  brought  by  him  to  the  Coetus  and 
then  ordained  to  the  ministry.  *  *  *  *  He  be- 
came an  enthusiast  of  the  most  pronounced  type,  whose 
preaching  was  attended  by  extraordinary  excitement. 
Under  his  auspices  were  chielly  held  the  '  great  meet- 
ings'on  the  Antietams,  which  are  not  yet  forgotten. 
In  this  respect  he  went  much  further  than  Mr.  Otterbein, 
whose  disposition  was  more  quiet  and  reflective.  Geet- 
ing became  more  and  more  irregular,  and  as  he  did  not 
heed  the  admonitions  of  the  Synod,  was  finally  excluded 
by  a  vote  of  twenty  to  seventeen.  *  *  *  There 
was  no  reflection  cast  on  the  personal  character  of  Mr, 
Geeting,  but  the  type  of  religion  which  he  represented 
was  certainly  foreign  to  that  of  the  Reformed  Church, 
and  it  is  possible  that  he  did  not  expect  or  desire  a  dif- 
ferent action  on  the  part  of  the  Synod.  He  continued 
to  labor  in  the  manner  which  pleased  him  best,  and  hip 


THIRD  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       Ill 

memory  is  greatly  cherished  in  the  Church  of  the 
'  United  Brethren  in  Christ.' " 

That  Mr.  Geeting  represented  a  type  of  religion 
"foreign  to  that  of  the  Keformed  Church"  of  that 
day  is  altogether  probable.  His  type  was  that  which 
sought  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  as  an  evidence  for  the 
pardon  of  sin ;  communion  with  God  which  it  is  the 
privilege  of  all  believers  to  enjoy ;  that  peace  of  soul 
which  passeth  all  understanding ;  which  will  daily  man- 
ifest itself  in  a  godly  life ;  which  consecrates  time, 
talent  and  all  to  the  service  of  the  Master ;  which  counts 
Church  connection  and  Church  ordinances  as  Avorse 
than  useless,  as  wicked,  unless  the  heart  first  repents  of 
its  transgressions  and  seeks  the  Divine  favor.  This 
was  not  the  type  wliich  prevailed  at  that  day  in  the 
Keformed  Church,  its  own  ministers  being  the  wit- 
nesses. Dr.  Helpenstein  gives  the  following  as  indi- 
cating the  temper  of  the  Church  in  this  matter : 

"  In  the  3^ear  1760,  my  father,  minister  in  German- 
town,  departed  this  life.  An  invitation  was  sent  to 
Rev.  Anthony  Hautz  to  visit  that  Church.  He  did  so. 
They  gave  him  a  call.  He  accepted  it,  returned  home, 
and  shortly  after  gave  them  notice  that  he  declined  it. 
The  reason  he  gave  was  that  the  Eev.  Helpenstein  had 
his  difficulties  in  the  congregation,  and  how  could  he  be 
able  to  manage  them.  The  difficulties  were  the  prayer 
meetings,  that  were  at  that  time  introduced  into  the  con- 
gregation. There  was  then  a  great  revival  in  the 
Church.  Mimbers  were  awakened  and  met  together  in 
prayer  meetings.  To  this  there  was  great  opposition, 
and  much  commotion  was  caused  in  the  congregation." 

Dr.  Nevin,  in  his  lectures  on  the  Fleidelbero:  Cate- 
chism,  published  in  1842,  gives  a  picture  of  the  early 


112  GEOKGE   ADAM    GEBTING, 

condition  of  the  Reformed  Church.  ''To  be  confirmed 
and  then  to  talve  the  Sacrament  occasionally,  was 
counted  by  the  multitude  all  that  was  necessary  to 
make  one  a  good  Christian,  if  only  a  tolerable  decency 
of  outward  life  were  maintained  besides,  without  any 
regard  at  all  to  the  religion  of  the  heart.  True,  serious 
piety  was,  indeed,  often  treated  with  open  and  marked 
scorn.  *  *  *  The  idea  of  the  new  birth  was  treated  as  a 
pietistic  whimery.  Experimental  religion  in  all  its 
forms  was  eschewed  as  a  new-fangled  invention  of  cun- 
ning imposters,  brought  in  to  turn  the  heads  of  the 
weak,  and  to  lead  captive  silly  women.  Prayer  meet- 
ings were  held  to  be  a  spiritual  abomination.  Family 
worship  was  a  species  of  saintly  affectation,  barely 
tolerable  in  the  case  of  ministers  (though  many  of 
them  gloried  in  having  no  altar  in  their  houses)  but 
absolutely  disgraceful  to  common  Christians.  To  show 
an  awakened  concern  on  the  subject  of  religion ;  a  dis- 
position to  call  on  God  in  daily  secret  prayer,  was  to 
incur  certain  reproach.  *  *  *  The  picture,  it  must  be 
acknowledged,  is  dark,  but  not  more  so  than  the  truth 
of  history  would  seem  to  require." 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  man  who  had 
experienced  the  new  birth  in  his  own  spiritual  con- 
sciousness, the  conviction  that  God  was  reconciled  to 
him,  should  seek  a  more  congenial  spiritual  atmosphere 
in  which  to  nourish  and  develop  his  Christian  graces. 

Mr.  Spayth,  in  speaking  of  this  period  of  his  life, 
says :  "  Having  been  brought  up  in  the  German 
Reformed  Church,  that  Church  was  dear  in  his  affec- 
tions, nor  was  this  without  a  return  from  many  mem- 
bers in  that  Church  to  whom  his  preaching  had  been 
made  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.     He  likewise 


THIRD  BISHOP  OF  THP:  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHFaST.       113 

enjo^'ed  the  friendship  and  esteem  of  some  of  her 
preachers ;  but  from  that  Church  came  also  some  of 
his  severest  trials,  by  way  of  opposition  to  the  work  of 
grace  and  the  conversion  of  the  people ;  and  as  opposi- 
tion or  persecution  which  comes  from  those  with 
whom  we  have  been  associated,  or  united,  in  natural, 
social,  or  religious  relations,  cuts  with  a  keener  edge 
and  wounds  deeper  than  when  directed  against  us  from 
any  other  source,  Mr.  Geeting,  when  speaking  of  it, 
while  the  big  tears  dropped  from  his  eyes,  would  say : 
"  For  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  ray  people,  am  I 
hurt.  Oh,  what  a  Savior  we  have,  and  yet  the  health 
of  my  people  is  not  recovered."  He  was  about  sixty- 
three  years  of  age  when  expelled  from  the  Church. 

The  conference  minutes  of  1803  are  signed  by  Otter- 
bein,  Boehm  and  Geeting,  and  they  were  most  proba- 
bly written  by  the  latter,  as  they  breathe  his  kind  and 
saintly  spirit.  Says  the  record  :  "  The  conference  was 
opened  by  reading  1  Tim.,  ii.,  singing  and  prayer,  that 
our  Lord  and  Savior  may  blfess  our  assembling  together 
and  that  it  may  be  to  the  honor  of  His  name  and  our 
edification.  Oh,  Lord,  hear  us,  for  Christ's  sake. 
Amen."  The  work  had  so  far  progressed  that  it  was 
not  deemed  best  for  the  conference  in  Pennsylvania  to 
arrange  work  for  the  preachers  in  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia, hence  they  were  allowed  to  arrange  for  them- 
selves. At  the  conference  in  1804  but  few  persons 
were  present,  owing  to  an  epidemic  which  prevailed. 
"  In  the  May  following,  a  sacramental  meeting  com- 
menced at  the  Antietam  (G.  A.  Geeting's  house),  at 
which  Father  Otterbein  was  present  and  preached  on 
Saturday.  On  the  Sabbath  following,  Otterbein 
preached   again,  with   his   usual   energy,   perspicuity, 


114  GEORGE    ADAM    GEETING, 

unction  and  power.  Under  preaching  and  at  the  com- 
munion table  tears  of  sorrow  and  of  joy  flowed  abun- 
dantly, and  the  wells  of  salvation  furnished  a  rich 
supply."  At  the  conference  of  1805,  which  met  near  Mid- 
dletown,  Md.,  it  was  "  resolved  that  George  A.  Geeting 
shall  be  present  at  the  appointed  great  meetings  in 
Maryland  and  on  this  side  of  the  Susquehanna  in  Penn- 
sylvania." Newcomer  agreed  to  travel  through  Mary- 
land and  a  certain  part  of  Pennsylvania,  and  C.  Crum 
through  Virginia,  and  each  was  to  receive  less  than 
eight  dollars  for  his  labors,  per  annum.  It  was  further 
"  resolved  that  the  preachers  who  preach  only  when 
they  like  shall  receive  no  compensation  for  their  serv- 
ices, and  it  shall  be  their  duty  to  pay  over  to  the  con- 
ference the  money  they  may  receive,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  traveling  preachers."  Thus  more  and  more  the 
itinerant  plan  is  being  developed.  Circuits  are  made 
for  the  advancement  of  the  work,  and  the  preacher, 
instead  of  preaching  at  intervals  at  points  about  his 
own  house,  when  it  may  be  convenient,  must  adapt 
himself  to  the  field  marked  out  for  him.  There  is  more 
supervision  of  the  work  than  heretofore.  Newcomer, 
Geeting  and  others  traveled  much  from  place  to  place, 
assisting  the  preachers  on  sacramental  and  other  occa- 
sions, and  doing  much  miscellaneous  and  itinerant  work. 
Kev.  Samuel  Huber  relates  this  example  of  his  ten- 
derness and  kindness  of  heart:  A  Mr.  Dehoff  had  a  son 
about  seventeen  years  of  age,  who  was  sick,  and  not 
knowing  his  disease,  sent  him  to  Dr.  Sinseny,  of  York, 
Pa.,  for  treatment.  The  doctor  told  him  that  he  was 
consumpted  and  that  he  could  not  cure  him,  and  advised 
him  to  pray  to  God  and  prepare  for  the  next  world. 
The  boy  reported  to  his  father,  and  betook  himself  to 


THIRD  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       115 

prayer.  The  idea  that  prayer  would  be  of  any  service 
to  him  offended  the  father,  and  he  required  his  son  to 
desist,  and  if  he  heeded  not  to  do  so,  he  should  leave 
his  home  and  seek  a  home  elsewhere.  "  The  son,  rather 
than  give  up  seeking  the  Lord,  left  his  father's  house  to 
seek  a  home  among  strangers ;  at  the  same  time  he 
knew  not  where  to  go  ;  but  having  heard  something 
about  old  Father  Geeting,  that  he  was  a  good  religious 
man  who  lived  about  eighty  miles  from  his  father's 
residence,  he  directed  his  course  that  way.  When  he 
came  to  Geeting  he  gave  him  an  account  of  his  situation, 
and  Geeting  being  one  of  that  kind  of  Christians  who 
never  send  the  distressed  empty  awa}',  requested  him  to 
tarry  at  his  house,  procured  employment  for  him,  and 
advised  him  to  continue  in  prayer  to  God.  To  this 
advice  the  boy  earnestly  adhered  until  he  found  the 
pearl  of  great  price.  After  this  he  continued  to  serve 
his  Divine  Master,  was  healed  of  his  malady,  became  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel  and  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy 
years,  and  died  triumphant  in  the  faith." 

We  find  Mr.  Geeting's  name  on  the  roll  of  members 
who  belong  to  the  conference,  up  to  the  year  1812. 
During  a  portion  of  these  years  he  was  the  efficient 
secretary.  The  address  to  the  M.  E.  conference  which 
was  authorized  to  be  sent  in  1809  was  signed  by  Geeting 
in  connection  with  Otterbein  and  Boehm.  Another 
letter  was  sent  signed  by  Geeting,  and  possibly  prepared 
by  him.  He  was  the  presiding  officer  of  the  conference 
in  1812,  which  was  held  near  his  own  home.  He  took 
an  active  interest  in  it,  and  it  proved  to  be  the  last  one 
which  he  attended.  Soon  after  its  close,  in  company 
with  his  wife  he  went  to  Baltimore  to  visit  his  old  friend 
and  colaborer,  William  Otterbein,  who.  by  the  increasing 


116  GEOKGE    ADAM    GEETING, 

infirmities  of  old  age,  '-vas  not  able  to  leave  the  city. 
Not  feeling  very  well  during  Ins  stay,  lie  shortened  his 
visit.  He  put  up  the  second  night,  when  some  thirty 
miles  from  Baltimore,  at  a  house  kept  by  Mr.  Snyder, 
a  place  where  he  had  frequently  stopped  before. 
"  Early  in  the  morning  he  enjoyed  a  little  rest,  conversed 
with  his  companion  and  Mr.  Snyder  about  the  Christian 
life,  and  the  prospects  of  a  glorious  immortality.  He 
became  silent,  and  then  said,  '  I  feel  as  though  ray  end 
had  come ;  hark !  hark !  Who  spoke?  Whose  voice  is 
this  I  hear?  Light!  light!  what  golden  light!  Now 
all  is  dark,  is  dark  again  !  Please  help  me  out  of  this 
bed.'     They  did  so.     Now  let  us  sing : 

"  '  Come  thou  long  expected  moment, 
Come  thou  Spirit-power  on  light ; 
'Tis  thy  call  my  Lord  and  Master. 
How  shall  I  express  my  joy, 
When  thy  grace  and  power  of  love 
Bid    me  rise  to  climes  above?' 

"  He  now  sank  on  his  knees,  leaning  against  the 
bed  and  prayed  fervently,  giving  thanks  to  God  for 
His  abundant  mercy  toward  him,  His  unprofitable 
servant.  A  prayer  then  was  offered  up  at  the  very 
gate  of  heaven,  and  in  it  much  joy  ;  there  was  no  doubt, 
no  fear,  no  desire  for  a  longer  stay  on  earth  ;  but  God 
the  Father  was  confidently  asked,  for  the  sake  of 
Christ  Jesus,  our  Savior,  to  look  upon  him,  to  hear 
and  accept  his  petition,  to  receive  His  poor  servant  and 
take  him  to  Himself,  for  the  sake  of  the  great  love 
wherewith  He  had  loved  him  and  delivered  him  from 
all  evil. 

"  He  was  helped  into  bed  again,  and  in  about  fifteen 
minutes,  while  his  hands  were  calmly  folded,  his 
ransomed  spirit  fled." 


THIRD  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHEEN  IN  CHRIST.       117 

His  age  was  seventy-one  years,  four  months  and 
twenty-two  days,  and  he  had  spent  forty  years  in  the 
ministry. 

Henry  Smith,  a  venerable  Methodist  minister,  said 
of  him,  "  I  was  acquainted  with  Rev.  G.  A.  Geeting, 
and  my  dear  father  loved  him  above  all  men,  for  it 
was  under  his  preaching  at  one  of  the  great  meetings 
in  Antietam  that  he  gav^e  his  heart  to  God.  *  *  *  He 
was  a  gifted,  eloquent  and  powerful  speaker.  His  voice 
Avas  pure  and  sweet,  and  his  preaching  found  way  to 
the  heart  as  well  as  the  ear. 

"  He  was  possessed  of  superior  gifts,  his  sympathies 
were  ready  and  abundant,  his  understanding  of  occasions 
and  faculty  of  adaptation  were  much  beyond  the 
usual.  He  had  a  voice  combining  sweetness  and 
power.  His  method  and  continued  attention  to  books, 
made  him  capable  of  great  and  unceasing  usefulness 
In  his  preaching  he  was  earnest,  yet  deliberate.  His 
addresses  to  the  conscience  and  the  feelings  were 
always  impressive,  and  sometimes  strikingly  moving. 

"As  he  was  in  the  first  place,  and  in  the  strictest 
sense,  a  product  of  the  revival  movement,  tiiere  was 
combined  in  him  its  strictest  moral  and  logical  charac- 
teristics. Otterbein  and  Boehm,  though  authors  in  the 
movement,  were  themselves  formed  by  earlier  and 
different  influences.  The  distinctive  character  of  Mr. 
Geeting  was  apparent  in  all  his  course  from  first  to 
last." 

Father  Spayth,  who  was  in  close  relationship  with 
those  who  knew  these  men  best,  gives  the  following 
touching  tribute  to  the  three  men  who  are  first  known 
in  our  history,  Otterbein,  Boehm  and  Geeting.  "  Otter- 
bein was  argumentative,  eloquent,  and  often  terrible 


118  GEOEUE   ADA.M    GEETING, 

in  the  denunciation  of  sin.  In  the  elucidation  of  the 
Scriptures  clear  and  thorough,  few  being  his  equal  in 
these  respects.  Boehm  was  the  plain,  open,  franlv  ex- 
pounder of  God's  word  ;  of  ready  utterance,  having  a 
clear  and  strong  voice,  and,  being  full  of  life  and  ani- 
mation, he  often  carried  his  congregation  before  him, 
as  if  the}'  had  been  borne  along  by  a  resistless  current. 
But  Geeting  was  like  an  early  spring  sun,  rising  on  a 
frost-silvered  forest,  which  gradually  affords  more  light 
and  heat,  until  you  begin  to  hear  the  crackling  of  the 
ice-covered  branches,  the  dripping  of  the  melted  snow, 
as  it  were  a  shower  of  rain,  and  until  a  smiling  joyous 
day  appears ;  so  did  Geeting  enlighten  and  melt  the 
hearts  of  his  congregation  by  the  word  of  truth,  and  so 
did  the  shouts  of  praise  for  redeeming  grace  follow 
floods  of  penitential  tears.  He  was  the  St.  John  of 
this  clover  leaf,  if  tlie  reader  will  allow  the  comparison  ; 
always 

"  '  Affectionate  in  look 
And  tender  in  address,  as  well  becomes 
A  messenger  of  grace  to  guilty  men  '; 

of  good  habits  and  havfng  a  well  cultivated  mind ;  in 
conversation  cheerful,  pleasing  and  interesting,  and  in 
every  way  a  desirable  companion.  His  winning  man- 
ners and  shining  talents  secured  for  him  unusual  re- 
spect and  esteem,  good  congregations,  and,  what  was 
much  more  important,  access  to  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  those  who  came  to  hear  him.  He  would 
follow  the  sinner  in  his  devious  paths,  showing  the 
severity  of  God's  law  in  a  manner  which  made  stout 
hearts  to  quail  and  tremble,  and  then,  with  feeling  and 
language  peculiar  to  himself,  present  the  stricken 
hearted  a  loving  Savior,  and  in  tones  so  beseechingly 


THIRD  BISHOP  UF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       119 

sweet  that  the  effect  was  usiiall}'  a  congregation  in 
penitential  tears.  Here  was  the  secret  of  power  which 
he  possessed  over  an  audience.  All  who  ever  heard 
him,  saw  it,  felt  it ;  he  alone  seemed  to  be  unconscious  of 
it.  But  love  and  a  child isli  good  nature,  like  the  rays  of 
an  evening  sun,  resting  quietly  on  his  round  face,  was 
all  that  could  be  seen  of  the  highly-gifted  mind  in  the 
midst  of  sinners  crying  for  mercy  or  saints  shouting 
for  joy.  Many  were  awakened  under  the  preaching  of 
Bro.  Greeting  in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Virginia.'" 
Mr.  Geeting  was  a  man  of  good  physical  constitu- 
tion, and  capable  of  great  endurance.  He  became 
possessed  of  a  good  farm,  and  everything  about  him 
was  indicative  of  good  condition.  The  good  horses 
that  he  kept  are  spoken  of  to  this  day.  He  was  scru- 
puously  neat  in  dress,  though  he  never  wore  the  custom- 
ary clerical  suit. 


CHRISTIAN  NEWCOMER, 
FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


WE  have  already  spoken  of  the  work  wrought  bv 
Otterbein  and  Boehm.  While  Otterbein  was  a 
settled  pastor,  he  also  labored  very  much  as  an  evan- 
gelist. In  connection  with  Boehm  he  held  meetings  in 
country  places,  often  continuing  from  Saturday  to 
Monday,  at  which  meetings  hundreds  of  souls  were 
converted.  People  came  from  far  and  near  to  hear 
them.  Often  societies  were  organized,  and  these  needed 
some  pastoral  supervision.  "  Hence,  when  converts 
were  found  who  were  deeply  pious  and  had  gifts  and 
felt  moved  upon  to  exhort  or  preach,  they  were  encour- 
aged to  go  forward ;  and  after  they  had  been  well  tried 
and  approved,  a  license  to  preach,  signed  by  Mr.  Otter- 
bein and  Mr.  Boehm,  was  granted  them.  By  this 
means  the  infant  societies  were  strengthened,  the  nu- 
merous calls  for  evangelical  preaching  answered,  and 
the  word  of  the  Lord  published  abroad." 

Among  the  most  successful  of  these  lay  preachers 
was  Christian  Newcomer.  He  was  born  in  Lancaster 
County,  Penn.,  on  the  21st  day  of  January,  a.  d, 
1749.  His  father,  whose  name  was  Wolfgang  New- 
comer, as  well  as  his  grandfather,  came  from  Switzer- 
land to  America,  landing  at  Philadelphia.  His  father 
was  a  carpenter  by  trade.  He  first  married  a  Miss 
Baer,  who  only  lived  about  one  year  after  marriage. 
After  remaining  a  widower  for  two  3^ears,  he  inarried 
Elizabeth  Weller,  and  the  fruits  of  this  marriage  were 

120 


FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHEEN  IN  CHEIST.      121 

eight  children,  three  sons  and  five  daughters.  Christian 
was  the  second  of  these  three  sons. 

His  parents  were  both  members  of  the  Mennonite 
Church,  in  which  were  still  to  be  found  examples  of  the 
ancient  piety  which  was  so  manifest  under  the  labors 
of  Menno  Simonis.  "  I  do  recollect,"  says  Mr.  New- 
comer in  his  journal,  "  perfectly  well  that  I  have  seen 
them  both  on  their  knees,  many  a  time  before  the  bed, 
offering  up  their  prayers  or  evening  sacrifice  to  God, 
although  in  silence.  At  ascertain  time  I  was  present 
when  my  parents  had  a  conversation  respecting  my 
■grandmother.  They  said  she  was  very  melancholy  and 
sad,  in  great  doubts  about  the  salvation  5f  her  soul, 
and  in  distress  of  being  lost,  adding  that  she  ought  not 
to  do  so,  but  cast  herself  on  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  her 
God." 

This  made  a  very  deep  impression  on  his  3"0ung 
heart.  "Ah,  I  said  to  myself,  if  such  persons  as  my 
pious  grandmother  (for  I  considered  her  a  pious  char- 
acter)^ do  lament  and  are  in  distress  on  account  of  their 
salvation,  what  will  become  of  me  ?  How  shall  I  ap- 
pear before  the  great  judge  of  all  the  universe  to  give 
account  of  all  that  I  have  done  ? "  So  concerned  was 
the  boy  at  this  early  day  about  spiritual  things. 

At  a  later  period  he  wrote  of  his  own  mental  strug- 
gles: "  Oh,  how  many  thoughts  and  dreams  of  judgment 
disturbed  my  mind.  I  could  see  no  way  how  I  could 
be  saved.  Frequently  did  I  endeavor  to  pray,  in  my 
ignorance  of  the  plan  of  salvation ;  willingly  w^ould  I 
^  believe  and  persuade  myself  that  I  was  one  of  the 
happy  number  which  are  saved.  I  soon  made  the  dis- 
covery, however,  that  I  still  continued  in  the  captivity 
of  sin  and  Satan;  the  terror  of  a  sin-avenging  God,  the 


122  CHRISTIAN   NEWCOMEE, 

fear  of  IipII,  and  my  own  turbulent  passions  continued 
to  sway  their  power  without  any  perceivable  abatement. 
I  remember  once  being  in  a  field  at  work,  when  the 
grace  of  God  wrought  such  powerful  convictions  in 
my  heart,  that  I  went  down  on  my  knees  in  a  hollow 
place  in  the  field,  crying  to  the  Lord  and  saying,  O, 
thou  blessed  Savior,  I  Avill  cheerfully  believe  in  thee, 
for  thou  art  my  Redeemer,  and  I  am  the  purchase  of 
th}^  most  precious  blood.  Alas  I  did  not  know  that  I 
dared  or  was  permitted  to  come  to  Jesus  Christ  in  my 
miserable  and  sinful  state. 

"  One  circumstance  which  I  have  never  forgotten, 
nor  ever  shall  I  forget,  I  am  constrained  here  to  relate. 
One  day  I  was  harrowing  some  ploughed  land  in  a  field, 
quite  alone,  and  riding  one  of  the  horses.  I  pulled,  in 
passing  a  peach  tree,  a  couple  of  peaches,  and  ate  one 
of  them,  the  stone  of  which  slipped  suddenly  downmy 
throat  into  the  windpipe,  so  that  I  was  unable  to  draw 
m}'  breath.  Oh,  the  terror  and  the  anguish  of  soul  that 
struck  me  ;  death  and  eternity  staring  me  in  the  face, 
and  my  God  not  reconciled,  no  comfort,  no  consolation 
in  the  soul.  It  is  utterh'^  impossible  to  describe  the  an- 
guish which  siezed  me  at  this  instant — suddenly  to  be 
removed  into  another  existence,  to  appear  before  the 
awful  tribunal  of  the  great  Jehovah,  and  unprepared. 
Kind  reader,  imagine  if  you  can  my  situation ;  every- 
thing around  me  began  to  grow  dim,  my  sight  failed, 
a  sudden  tremor  ran  through  every  nerve,  I  struggled 
to  catch  breath  but  in  vain ;  like  a  dart  an  idea  shot 
across  my  mind  (yea,  I  believe  the  Good  Being,  God 
sent  it),  that  I  should  instantly  run  my  back  against  an 
apple  tree  which  stood  about  twenty-five  or  thirty 
yards  from  me,  in  order  to  remove  the  stone  and  there- 


FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      123 

by  save  my  life.  No  sooner  thought  than  done.  Down 
1  came  from  my  horse  in  an  instant,  and  ran  with  all 
my  remaining  strength  toward  the  tree,  though  barely 
able  to  discern  it.  At  last  I  reached  the  spot,  bounced 
my  shoulders  against  the  trunk,  and  out  came  the  peach- 
stone.  How  did  I  rejoice?  Pierced  by  gratitude,  I  sank 
down  on  my  knees,  giving  thanks  to  Almighty  God 
for  the  preservation  of  my  life. 

"  Often  did  1  dream  concerning  the  da}"  of  judg- 
ment ;.  especially  did  I  dream  once  of  standing  on  an 
extensive  open  and  level  piece  of  ground ;  on  all  sides 
and  in  every  direction,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  pierce, 
there  appeared  a  multitude  of  people.  On  a  sudden, 
the  thunder  began  to  roar  in  a  most  wonderful  manner, 
and  I  thought  the  day  of  judgment  at  hand.  In  a  mo- 
ment I  saw  the  Lord  Jesus  come  down  from  heaven  in 
his  glory ;  methought  he  drew  me  forcibly  to  him ; 
with  this  I  awoke,  and  instantly  leaped  out  of  bed.  A 
ray  of  hope  darted  through  my  mind.  Perhaps,  said  I 
to  myself,  there  is  still  mercy  for  poor  unworthy  me. 

"  Some  time  thereafter  a  very  heavy  tempest  arose 
one  evening  in  the  western  horizon.  Presently  the 
whole  canopy  of  heaven  was  a  black  darkness ;  tre- 
mendous thunder  following,  clap  after  clap,  and  the 
forked  lightning  illuminating  the  objects  around  me, 
making  darkness  visible ;  this,  said  I  to  myself,  is  per- 
haps the  day  of  judgment,  of  wliich  I  have  lately 
dreamed.  Oh,  what  anguish,  fear,  and  terror  took 
possession  of  my  heart,  I  walked  from  room  to  room, 
tried  to  read  and  pray,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  Fear  of 
hell  had  seized  on  me ;  the  cords  of  death  had  wound 
about  me.  I  felt  as  if  wholly  forsaken,  nor  did  I  know 
which   way  to  turn.     All    my  prayers  committed  to 


124  CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMER, 

memory  would  not  avail.  Oh !  eternity,  eternity,  I  ex- 
claimed, Avhich  way  shall  I  fly  ?  The  passage ,  door  of 
the  house  stood  open  wide,  I  saw  the  rain  pouring  down, . 
the  lightning  blaze,  and  heard  the  thunders  roar.  I 
ran,  or  rather  reeled  out  of  the  house  into  the  yard  a 
few  paces,  to  the  garden  fence,  and  sank  upon  my 
knees,  determined  to  give  myself  wholly  and  without 
reserve  to  Jesus,  the  Savior  and  Redeemer  of  all  man- 
kind ;  submitting  to  His  will  and  His  alone,  having  in 
this  manner  humbled  myself  before  my  Lord  arid  Mas- 
ter, unable  to  utter  a  word,  a  vivid  flash  of  lightning 
darted  across  my  eyes ;  at  the  same  instant  a  clap  of 
thunder — oh,  what  a  clap ;  as  it  ceased,  the  whole  an- 
guish of  my  soul  was  removed.  I  did  not  know  w^hat 
had  happened  unto  me.  My  heart  felt  glad,  my  soul 
was  happy,  my  mouth  was  filled  with  praises  and 
thanksgiving  to  God  for  what  he  had  done  for  me,  a 
poor  unworthy  creature.  I  thought  if  ever  a  being  in 
the  world  had  cause  to  praise  the  Lord,  I  was  that 
creature.  For  several  nights  tears  of  gratitude  and  joy 
moistened  my  pillow,  and  I  had  many  happy  hours. 
For  some  time  I  continued  in  this  state  of  mind.  My 
soul  was  happy  when  I  arose  m  the  morning.  All  na- 
ture had  in  m}''  eyes  put  on  a  different  appearance.  All 
things  had  become  new,  and  I  was  enabled  to  rejoice 
all  the  day  long." 

This  wonderful  change  occurred  in  1767,  when  he 
was  about  eighteen  years  of  age.  Having  no  spiritual 
advisers  to  guide  him,  he  lost  for  a  time  this  heavenly 
peace,  and  became  careless  and  indifferent. 

"In  this  situation  I  had  a  conversation  with  an 
elder  or  preacher  in  the  Mennonite  Society,  consulting 
him  and  askino'   bis  advice.     He  counseled   me   to  be 


FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      125 

baptized,  to  join  the  Societ}^  and  take  the  sacrament. 
I  took  his  friendly  advice,  and  did  as  he  had  counseled 
me  to  do;  but  all  this  did  not  restore  me  to  the  joyful 
sensation  or  inward  comfort  Avhich  I  had  lost." 

He  lived  in  this  uncertain  condition  for  several  years. 
He  avoided  the  company  of  the  loose  and  vicious,  and 
led  a  moral  life.  His  father  is  becoming  old  and  is 
making  a  disposition  of  his  property.  Finally  he  dies 
and  the  widow  and  her  daughter  make  their  home  with 
the  son  Christian.  On  the  31st  of  March  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Elizabeth  Baer. 

The  following  winter  he  was  taken  ill,  and  the 
remembrance  of  his  lost  joy  came  back  to  him.  The 
conviction  of  sin  was  powerful,  and  his  agony  was  very 
great.  He  had  spent  two  days  and  three  nights  in  this 
misery,  and,  while  reading  in  the  book  of  Revelation,  a 
new  joy  came  to  him.  "  In  a  moment,  ^he  peace  of 
God  and  pardon  of  my  sins  was  manifested  to  my  soul, 
and  the  spirit  of  God  bore  witness  with  my  spirit,  that 
God  for  Jesus'  sake,  had  taken  away  the  burthen  of 
my  sins,  and  shed  abroad  his  love  in  my  poor  unworthy 
heart.  Oh,  Thou  glorious  Being!  How  did  my  soul 
feel  at  the  time  ?  Only  those  who  have  felt  and  experi- 
enced the  same  grace  will  be  able  to  understand  and 
comprehend  what  I  say.  My  joy,  or  rather  ecstacy, 
was  so  great  that  I  was,  in  some  measure,  as  one  beside 
himself.  Not  to  disturb  those  who  were  in  the  house, 
locked  in  sleep,  T  ran  out  into  the  yard  to  give  utter- 
ance to  my  feelings.  Then  I  gave  glory  and  hallelujahs 
to  my  Bedeemer  with  a  loud  voice.  M}^  whole  heart 
was  filled  with  gratitude  to  God  and  the  Lamb.  Unto 
Him  be  all  the  praise  and  glory  forever. 

"  Several  weeks — I  am  almost  ready  to  say  perhaps 


126  •   CHEISTIAN    NEWCOMER 

the  most  happy  weeks  of  my  life — passed  away  in  this 
happy  manner,  my  peace  flowing  like  a  river,  and  the 
love  of  God  dwelling  in  my  heart.  I  now  felt  a  desire, 
yea,  a  something  within,  urging  me  to  communicate 
this  happiness  to  my  fellow  creatures.  I  thought  and 
believed  it  to  be  my  duty  to  inform  every  individual 
of  the  loving  kindness  of  God,  and  especially  what  he 
had  done  for  my  soul;  but  fear  that  I  would  be  consid- 
ered insane,  or  a  fool,  prevented  my  lyerfor'ining  this 
duty.  Ultimately  I  determined  to  go  to  one  of  our 
preachers,  who  stood  high  in  my  estimation,  and  hold 
a  conversation  with  him  on  the  subject.  I  related  to 
him  with  all  the  fervor  of  a  new  convert,  what  the 
work  of  grace  had  accomplished  in  my  soul.  My  heart 
was  full  of  the  love  of  God,  and  my  expressions  were, 
perhaps,  rather  fervent;  therefore,  he  could  not  under- 
stand me.  He  thought  me  hast3'^;  said  I  had  formed 
too  stout  an  opinion  in  this  matter,  and  might  very 
easily  be  in  error,  in  believing  such  professed  experience. 

"All  the  way  I  had  to  fight  a  severe  combat  with 
the  enemy,  being  afraid  I  might  have  expressed  the 
work  of  grace  in  my  heart  with  too  much  ardor  and 
assurance." 

Speaking  of  this  minister,  in  whom  he  had  confi- 
dence, he  says:  "We  frequently  differed  in  opinion 
during  the  conversation  we  had  on  the  subject.  On 
my  side  I  mamtained  the  assertion  that  a  person  could 
and  surely  would  be  conscious  of  the  fact,  Avhen  God 
for  Christ's  sake  had  shown  mercy  to  him,  a  poor  sin- 
ner, in  granting  unto  him  a  free  pardon  for  all  his 
guilt.     This  my  friend  would  by  no  means  admit." 

This  minister  finally  took  sick,  and  Mr.  Newcomer 
concluded  to  visit  him.     He  hoped  to  elicit  something 


FOURTH  BISHOI'  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  OIIKIST.     127 

concerning  his  experience,  but  felt  a  hesitation  in  sug- 
gesting the  matter  to  a  clergyman.  Finally  they  were 
left  alone,  thereupon  the  minister  said  to  him,  "  Chris- 
tian, do  you  not  recollect  the  conversation  and  dispute 
we  had  together  when  you  were  here  the  last  time, 
particularly  in  regard  to  the  seed  of  the  woman  and 
the  serpent  ? "  Mr.  Newcomer  having  responded  to 
this,  the  minister  said :  "  Since  that  time  the  convic- 
tion has  darted  through  my  mind  like  a  flash  of  light- 
ning, that  the  seed  of  the  woman  can  and  must  destroy 
the  head  of  the  serpent  within  me,  in  my  heart.  Yes, 
I  do  believe  that  by  the  power  of  our  Savior,  Jesus 
Christ,  sin  can  and  must  be  destroyed  in  my  heart  if  I 
shall  be  saved."    • 

Thus  not  only  did  the  Holy  Spirit,  apparently  with- 
out human  help,  lead  Mr.  Newcomer  into  a  clearer  and 
more  satisfactory  experience  of  God's  grace,  but 
through  him  brought  others  into  a  more  comforting- 
assurance  of  their  acceptance  with  him. 

The  spirit  of  God  seemed  to  be  calling  him  to  speak 
of  his  experience  to  others.  Yet,  timid  man  as  he  was, 
he  shrank  from  the  work.  lie  himself  judged,  and 
most  likely  correctly,  that  the  dark  hours  of  his  experi- 
ence were  caused  by  his  refusal^  to  heed  the  call  which 
was  ringing  in  his  ears,  to  proclaim  the  glad  tidings  to 
the  perishing  multitudes  about  him. 

He  writes  further  in  his  journal:  "Henceforth, 
whenever  I  was  at  meeting,  I  frequently  felt  an  urging 
within  me  to  speak  to  the  congregation  and  relate  to 
them  my  experience ;  but  considering  myself  unfit  for 
the  task,  I  always  declined  and  kept  at  a  distance.  I 
was  esteemed  by  my  neighbors,  and  most  of  them 
wished  me  well.     Often  did  I  pity  them  unto  tears. 


128  CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMER 

and  felt  constrained  to  tell  them  what  to  do  to  be 
saved.  I  do  sincerely  believe  if  I  had  been  obedient 
to  the  call  of  God,  I  should  have  avoided  the  misery 
into  which  I  was  once  more  plunged  ;  but  the  office  of 
a  preacher  appeared  to  me  of  such  importance,  and  not 
without  cause,  I  attached  thereunto  such  an  awful  con- 
sequence, at  the  same  time  I  knew  my  own  impotence 
and  ignorance  that  I  could  not  be  persuaded  to  preach, 
although  often  solicited  by  my  neighbors  to  do  so, 
until  ultimately,  like  Jonah,  I  sought  safety  in  flight 
by  selling  my  plantation  and  removing  from  my  neigh- 
bors into  the  State  of  Maryland."  * 

He  removed  to  Frederick  County,  Md.  This  oc- 
curred in  the  Spring  of  1775,  while  the  Eevolu- 
tionaiy  war  Avas  in  progress.  He  says  :  "  My  neigh- 
bors in  the  new  abode  were  generally  a  good  mean- 
ing, friendly  sort  of  people,  without  experimental 
religion,  and  very  few,  if  any,  could  be  found  with 
whom  I  could  converse  on  the  subject.  Here,  also,  did 
I  act  again  in  the  same  manner  as  I  had  done  at  my 
former  home  in  Pennsylvania  ;  refused  to  take  up  the 
cross,  and  disobeyed  the  call  to  preach  the  gospel  of 
salvation  to  lost  sinners.  For  this  reason  my  misery 
and  distress  returned  again." 

Mr.  Newcomer  takes  ill  with  a  fever.  He  ex- 
pected to  die  ;  his  body  was  sick  but  his  mind  clear  and 
active.  In  this  condition  he  says :  "  I  was  convinced 
that  had  I  been  obedient  to  the  call  formerly  men- 
tioned I  should  not  have  had  to  endure  this  severe 
spell  of  sickness.  I  therefore  made  a  new  promise  to 
my  God,  that  I  would  be  more  obedient,  if  again  re- 
stored to  health.  'No  sooner  had  I  formed  this  resolu- 
tion and  made  this  promise,  than  my  health  was  grad- 
ually restored  and  I  got  perfectly  well." 


FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     129 

He  was  not  satisfied ;  he  wanted  the  joy  which  he 
had  before  possessed.  He  gives  a  night  to  prayer.  In 
this  Avresthng  with  God  the  coveted  light  conies  to 
him.  "  Henceforward  my  peace  followed  like  a  river. 
My  whole  soul  was  swallowed  up  in  the  love  of  God. 
I  was  ready  and  willing  to  suffer  for  Jesus'  sake  all 
things  which  He  in  His  wisdom  and  goodness  should 
desire  me  to  do  or  suffer,  *  *  *  Since  the  peace 
of  God  was  restored  unto  ray  soul,  the  former  call  to 
preach  the  gospel^  or  rather  not  to  preach,  only  to  tell 
to  those  around  me  what  the  Lord  had  done  for  me, 
returned  with  redoubled  power  ;  it  seemed  to  me  to 
burn  like  fire  in  my  bones,  that  it  was  my  duty,  and 
that  the  Lord  required  at  nw  hands  to  exhort  the 
people  to  seek  the  Lord  their  God  or  be  lost  forever. 
But  as  before  my  embarrassment  also  returned.  I 
knew  myself  so  ignorant,  so  unworthy,  so  unfit  for  the 
task,  as  to  be  totally  at  a  loss  what  to  do  or  how  to 
act." 

The  first  opportunity  to  bear  public,  testimony  to 
his  wonderful  experience  occurred  when  on  a  visit 
to  his  old  friends  in  Lancaster  County,  Pa.,  and 
before  his  Mennonite  congregation,  of  which  he  was 
still  a  member.  He  went  with  them  on  the  Sabbath 
day  to  the  meeting  house,  Avith  the  firm  resolve  to  be 
silent  and  say  nothing.  He  sa^gt:  "  Sitting  for  some 
time,  listening  with  attention  to  the  discourse  and  ex- 
hortations of  several  of  their  preachers,  I  could  per- 
ceive distinctly  that  they  still  continued  in  the  same 
ignorance  and  inexperience  of  religion  as  they  were 
when  I  left  them. 

"  It  now  ran  like  fire  through  my  bones.  I  felt  in- 
wardly constrained  to  take  up  the  cross,  and  whereas 


130  CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMER 

brethren  (Mennonites)  gave  the  privilege  or  liberty  to 
speak,  I  dared  not  remain  silent  any  longer,  I  arose 
with  a  sorrowful  heart,  and  spoke  with  tears  in  my 
eyes  to  my  old  friends  and  acquaintances ;  I  related  to 
them,  with  all  the  ability  in  my  possession,  how  I  had 
oftentimes  felt  at  meeting  when  living  yet  among  them, 
candidly  stated  my  experience  of  the  work  of  grace  in 
my  soul  before  I  left  them,  as  also  wdiat  the  X,ord  in 
his  infinite  mercy  had  done  for  me  since  my  removal 
to  Maryland.  I  also  sincerely  confessed  to  them  what 
the  Lord  had  required  of  me  before  my  removal,  to 
warn  them  of  their  danger,  and  that  until  this  day  I 
had  been  disobedient  to  my  blessed  Master." 

Such  a  statement  from  such  a  man,  under  circum- 
stances so  peculiar,  would  have  a  wonderful  effect  both 
on  hearer  and  speaker.  As  to  the  latter  we  have  the 
speaker's  own  testimony :  "  I  was  so  affected  as  to  be 
hardly  able  to  speak  intelligibly,  but  I  stammered  as 
w^ell  as  I  could,  and  endeavored  to  recommend  to  them 
the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Every  person  present 
was  sensibly  touched,  all  shed  tears  as  well  as  m\^self. 
I  have  no  doubt  many  were  convinced  that  a  form 
of  religion,  a  religion  whose  habitation  is  only  the 
head  and  is  not  felt  in  the  heart,  is  insufficient  to  sal- 
vation. After  discharging  this  duty,  I  felt  glad  that  I 
had  been  obedient,  and  an  inward  satisfaction  rested  on 
my  mind.  Henceforth  I  was  frequently  requested  to 
exhort  and  speak  in  public  to  my  fellow-beings,  which 
caused  many  a  hard  combat  to  be  obedient.  It  con- 
tinued to  be  a  severe  cross  to  me,  but  I  always  feared 
that  I  should  lose  the  peace  of  mind  I  now  enjoyed  by- 
disobedience." 

Shall  we  not  pause  a  moment  to  reflect  how,  amid 


FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BKETHREX  IN  CHRIST.     131 

varying  scenes  of  light  and  darkness,  God  has  wonder- 
fully led  this  man?  In  his  own  remarkable  experience 
he  has  had  a  clear  and  vivid  perception  of  those  ti'uths 
of  the  gospel  which  it  shall  be  his  blessed  mission  to 
proclaim  to  an  uni-egenerate  world.  There  is  no  chance 
for  him  to  retreat  if  he  were  disposed  to  do  so,  for 
already  he  has  imperiled  his  soul  by  a  refusal  to  obey. 
True  he  is  very  weak,  and  in  his-  own  judgment  very 
inefficient.  He  has  none  of  the  culture  of  the  schools 
to  fit  him  for  his  work.  He  had  the  management  of  a 
farm  and  the  care  of  a  family.  Twenty-eight  years  of 
his  life  have  gone  by,  but  the  Master  says  to  him,  '*  Go," 
and  wnth  the  pressure  of  the  Master's  hand  urging  him 
forward,  with  the  clear  and  invigorating  words  of  the 
Holv  Writ,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,"  ringing  in 
his  ears,  he  starts  out  upon  a  career  of  care  and  toil 
and  anxiety,  but  one  that  shall  be  full  of  blessed  re- 
sults. 

He  tells  us  himself  how  he  became  acquainted  with 
Otterbein  and  his  evangelistic  work.  His  home  was 
about  nine  miles  from  Lancaster,  and  about  thirteen 
from  the  home  of  Martin  Boehm.  He  does  not  seem  to 
have  met  Boehm  at  this  time.  Although  there  was  a 
congregation  of  those  who  were  associated  with  Boehm, 
the  prejudices  existing  had  probably  kept  these  good 
men  of  kindred  spirit  from  becoming  acquainted  with 
each  other.  Thus  God  raised  up  each  in  His  own  good 
way  for  the  work  aw^aiting  him. 

"  Already  for  a  considerable  time  I  had  become  ac- 
quainted with  William  Otterbein  and  George  Adam 
Geeting,  two  preachers  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church,  and  had  frequently  heard  them  preach  in  the 
neighborhood  of  my  place  of  residence.  These  indi- 
viduals, endowed  by  God,  preached  powerfully,  and  not 


132  CHRISTIAK    NEWCOMER 

like  the  Scribes.  Th-eir  discourses  made  uncommon 
impressions  on  the  hearts  of  the  hearers.  They  in- 
sisted on  the  necessity  of  genuine  repentance  and  con- 
version, on  the  knowledge  of  a  pardon  of  sin,  and  in 
consequence  thereof  a  change  of  heart  and  restoration 
of  spirit.  They  soon  collected  many  adherents  to  and 
followers  of  the  doctrines  which  they  preached,  from 
the  multitudes  that  congregated  to  hear  them.  Those 
persons  who  held  to  and  embraced  these  doctrines, 
were  by  them  formed  into  societies,  and  were  called 
'Otterbein's  people,'  and  the  world l3!^-minded  gave 
them  the  nickname,  Dutch  Methodists,  which  in  those 
days  was  considered  rather  slanderous. 

"  Whereas,  these  men  preached  the  same  doctrine 
which  I  had  experienced,  and  which,  according  to  my 
views  and  discernment,  so  perfectly  agreed  with  the 
doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  apostles ;  therefore 
r  associated^  with  them  and  joined  their  society;  and 
blessed  be  God,  although  I  withdrew  myself  from  the 
Mennonite  society,  on  account  of  the  want  of  the  life 
and  power  of  religion  among  them,  I  never  felt  in  any 
way  accused  for  so  doing;  on  the  contrary,  1  have 
received  many  a  blessing  from  God  when  associated 
Avith  my  own  brethren." 

The  work  was  spreading  rapidly  among  the  Ger- 
mans, especially  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  The 
harvest  was  plenteous,  and  as  usual  the  laborers  w^ere 
few.  Mr.  Newcomer  now  found  opportunities  for 
preaching  opening  up  on  every  hand.  His  heart  went 
into  his  work,  and  although  attended  with  many  sac- 
rifices, he  enjoyed  it.  He  says  of  himself :  "About 
this  time  it  Avas  frequently  required  of  me  by  my 
brethren  to  attend  meetings  that  were  appointed  by 


FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.     133 

the  people  without  my  knowledge.  On  such  occasions 
I  had  to  leave  home  and  travel  a  hundred  or  more 
miles  to  attend  a  two  or  three  days'  meeting,  which 
occasioned  considerable  loss  of  time  and  neglect  of  ni}^ 
occupation.  This  also  required  a  good  deal  of  self- 
denial  and  many  a  sore  conflict.  But  I  had  to  submit 
and  be  obedient  to  God  and  the  brethren,  because  the 
fear  still  continued  to  assail  me  that  by  my  disobe- 
dience I  might  again  lose  the  peace  of  my  soul.  In 
addition  thereto  I  felt  such  a  burning  desire  in  my 
heart  for  the  salvation  of  poor  sinners  that  I  gave 
all  thoughts  of  self-interest  as  chaff  to  the  wind  by 
simply  saying  to  myself,  The  salvation  of  one  precious 
soul  is  worth  more  than  the  possession  of  the  w^hole 
world.'' 

In  this  early  day  these  preachers  were  looked  upon 
with  strange  interest.  •  They  were  men  who  had  no 
very  formal  induction  into  the  sacred  office.  They 
were  uncultured  and  illiterate ;  the}^  came  from  the 
laboring  classes  in  the  community.  They  were  intense, 
earnest,  and  perhaps  a  little  peculiar  in  their  manner 
and  bearing.  These  persons,  without  any  pay,  and 
with  the  sole  desire  to  save  their  fellow-men,  went 
here  and  there,  as  they  could  find  an  audience,  and 
momentous  results  followed  their  work. 

Samuel  Huber,  a  man  more  or  less  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  Newcomer,  in 'his  autobiography,  tells  us 
that  his  home,  in  Franklin  county,  was  at  first  the  only 
preaching  place  for  the  United  Brethren  between  Har- 
risburg,  Pa.,  and  Hagerstown,  Md.*  "At  the  time 
alluded  to  they  had  frequently  to  travel  from  forty  to 
sixty  miles  to  reach  an  appointment,  and  that  without 

*  Iluber's  Autobiography,  p.  13. 


134  CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMER 

even  having  accommodations  for  man  or  horse  except- 
ing at  taverns.  It  was  not  because  there  were  not  suf- 
ficient provisions  in  the  country  to  entertain  travelers 
that  they  had  no  stopping  places.  The  reason  that 
people  refused  to  give  these  persons  entertainment  was 
that  they  were  looked  upon  as  false  prophets,  deceivers 
and  bewitchers  of  the  people.  Such,  indeed,  was  the 
ignorance,  superstition  and  blunders  of  the  people 
upon  the  subject  of  true  religion,  that  they  were  afraid 
to  entertain  a  preacher  of  this  sort,  fearing  that  if 
once  in  the  house  he  would  bewitch  the  whole  family; 
and  in  many  instances  they  refused  to  shake  hands 
with  them  for  fear  of  becoming  spell-bound." 

Years  ago  the  following  incident,  as  illustrating  the 
prevailing  notions  of  the  times,  was  told  the  author  by 
Michael  Bash,  of  Roanoke,  Ind. :  In  an  early  day  his 
mother's  people  lived  not  very  far  from  the  home  of 
Ifewcomer.  A  younger  sister,  possibly  fourteen  or 
sixteen  3' ears  of  age,  had  labored  for  a  short  time  as  a 
domestic  in  the  home  of  Mr.  Newcomer.  Some  time 
after  she  had  returned  to  her  own  home.  Mr.  New- 
comer was  to  hold  a  meeting  in  that  neiohborhood. 
The  parents  of  the  young  girl  did  not  want  her  to 
attend  for  fear  she  would  come  under  their  evil  in- 
iiuence.  After  persistent  urging  on  her  part,  it  w^as 
agreed  to  ])ermit  her  to  attend,  provided  the  elder 
sister,  afterward  Mrs.  Bash,  should  accompanv  her,  in 
order  to  protect  her.  They  went  to  the  house  where 
the  meeting  v,^as  to  be  held.  Every  few  minutes  the 
elder  sister  was  noticed  to  move  a  little  on  the  bench 
where  she  sat  towards  the  rigiit,  then  again  toward 
the  left,  and  sometimes  partially  rise  up.  The  belief 
prevailed  that  some  kind  of  magic  power  could  go  out 


FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE   CXITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     135 

from  the  preacher's  mouth  that  would  fasten  people  to 
their  seats,  and  this  poor  girl  was  determined  to  resist 
such  infiiience,  and  so  kept  moving  her  body  to  break, 
if  possible  the  magic  sj^ell.  In  a  little  time  the 
younger  sister  was  so  wrought  upon  by  the  preaching 
that  she  fell  over.  Immediatel}^  the  older  one  jumped 
to  her  feet,  bounded  out  of  the  door  and  ran  towards 
home  as  fast  as  her  limbs  would  carry  her,  and  crying 
at  the  top  of  her  voice:  "Mamma,  they've  got  her; 
mamma,  the3^''ve  got  her."  Such  influence  did  these 
simple-hearted  men  of  God  exert  on  the  people  about 
them. 

Huber  tells  us  of  having  come  into  "  Tuckaho  Val- 
ley, and  tarried  to  preach  at  Brother  Battenburg's. 
These  strange  preachers  were  looked  upon  as  phe- 
nomena. Some  people  looked  at  us  with  terrified 
glances,  afraid  to  come  into  the  house,  but  stood  gap- 
ing at  the  windows.  After  eyeing  us  for  some  time, 
it  was  discovered  from  our  appearance  that  we  looked 
just  like  other  men;  we  invited  them  into  the  house; 
after  some  hesitation  they  began  to  enter.  The  word 
preached  took  effect.  *  *  *  The  preaching  was 
then  done  by  local  preachers.  They  preached  gratuit- 
ously and  paid  their  own  expenses.  For  about  two 
years'  time  the  Lord  Avrought  such  worl<;  among  the  peo- 
ple that  preaching  places  were  opened  in  such  numbers 
in  these  parts  that  we  could  not  fill  them.  Circuit 
preachers  were  then  sent  out  to  serve  the  people  with 
preacliing." 

After  having  traveled  from  Franklin  county,  Pa., 
to  attend  a  General  Conference  near  Zanesville,  Ohio, 
Father  Huber  writes  :  "•  I  arrived  at  home  safely  after 
a  journey  of  five  weeks,  somewhat  out   of  pocket  in 


136  CHKISTIAN    NEWCOMER 

money,  having  received  for  traveling  expenses  and  ser- 
vices three  dollars.  *  *  *  Although  the  first  United 
Brethren  preachers,  with  few  exceptions,  preached  with- 
out pay,  it  must  be  understood  that  in  most  cases  they 
were  farmers  and  could  afford  to  do  so.  I  received 
during  my  ministry  of  over  forty  years'  continuance 
less  than  twenty  dollars  for  traveling  expenses  and 
preaching.  All  this  does  not,  however,  prove  that  men 
who  pursue  no  other  calling  than  that  of  the  ministry, 
should  labor  at  it  without  a  competent  remuneration." 

These  old  fathers  were  quaint,  original  men,  had 
their  own  notions,  and  had  the  courage  of  their  con- 
victions. Says  the  same  writer  above  referred  to :  "  We 
had  frequently  to  preach  in  log  cabins  at  night,  with 
no  other  light  than  that  made  with  pine  knots  blazing 
in  the  fireplaces,  and  with  a  table  for  a  reading  desk, 
and' sometimes  without  even  this.  We  had  no  oppor- 
tunity to  read  manuscript  sermons  to  the  people,  even 
if  we  desired  to  do  so.  Such  a  thing  as  memorizing 
and  preaching  other  men's  sermons  was  not  thought  of 
in  these  times,  except  by  shallow-brains  and  blockheads. 
We  had  to  take  the  Bible  for  our  rule  of  faith  and 
practice.  Out  of  it,  through  God's  assistance,  we  ob- 
tained our  theology,  preached,  exhorted  and  taught, 
as  the  Holy  Spirit  suggested.  We  graduated  on  horse- 
back, instead  of  in  large  htiildings. 

"  This  kind  of  preaching,  done  in  cabins,  barns, 
woods,  highways  and  hedges  and  other  places,  was  the 
means,  through  God,  of  raising  the  standard  of  the 
cross  in  valleys,  country,  cities,  towns  and  villages, 
where  the  devil  had  established  his  kingdom  and  reigned 
triumphantly.  ISTo  sooner  did  these  enemies  of  the 
devil,  the  preachci's,  come  up  to  the  help  of  the  Lord 


FOUKTH   BISHOP  OF  THE  UNl'J'ED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHKIST.     137 

against  the  mighty,  and  open  their  batteries  \yith 
singing,  }3rayer,  preaching  and  exhortation,  than  open- 
ings were  made  in  the  walls  of  Satan's  kingdom.  Many 
of  his  strongholds  were  taken  by  storm  b}^  enforcing 
the  unadulterated  truths  of  the  gospel,  seconded  and 
sealed  to  the  heart  by  the  power  of  Him  '^  who  hath 
his  wa\'^  in  the  whirlwind  and  in  the  storm."* 

Newcomer  kept  a  brief  journal  of  his  life  from  1795 
to  1S30.  Many  things  are  omitted,  and  many  others, 
concerning  which  we  would  like  to  have  more  informa. 
tion,  are  stated  with  annoying  brevity,  but  we  have 
enough  to  give  us  at  least  a  glimpse  into  the  nature  of 
the  man  and  the  work  he  did.  It  may  be  interesting 
to  the  reader  to  have  from  his  own  pen  an  account  of 
the  striking  manifestations  which  attended  his  earnest, 
faithful  preaching. 

"  Sunday,  17th,  1802.  Brother  Geeting  spoke  with  a 
tender  compassion ;  the  people  began  to  cry  aloud. 
The  meeting  was  held  in  a  barn.  When  Brother  Geeting 
had  closed  his  remarks,  I  arose,  went  among  the  people 
in  the  congregation,  exhorting  them  to  accept  the 
overtures  of  mercy;  presently  a  young  man  fell  on 
my  neck,  crying,  and  calling  aloud  :  '  Oh,  Mr.  New- 
comer, what  shall  I  do ;  what  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ? ' 
I  replied  :  '  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.'  In- 
stantly two  others  (who  were  brothers)  fell  on  their 
knees,  crying:  'What  shall  I  do?  I  am  lost  forever! 
Oh,  Lord  Jesus  I  have  mercy  on  me.'  A  young  woman 
fell  down,  crying  for  mercy.  Her  sister,  who  was  sit- 
ting beside  her,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  instantly  laid 
it  on  the  floor,  imploring  the  mercy  of  God.  Next 
came  the  mother,  also   crying:  'O  Lord!  mercy  for 

*Huber,  p.  147. 


138  CHEISTIAN    NEWCOMER 

myself  and  my  children.'  The  father  also  drew  nigh, 
took  the  child  up  to  prevent  its  being  hurt  in  the 
group,  and  stood  alongside  of  his  children  and  wife, 
with  tears  streaming  down  his  furrowed  cheeks.  Oh. 
what  asis'ht!  The  scene  could  not  be  beheld  without 
emotion.  The  whole  congregation  began  to  cr}^  and 
moan.  The  excitement  became  general.  Presenth^ 
one  fell  here,  another  there,  a  woman  hanging  on  the 
breast  of  her  beloved  companion,  a  daughtei*  in  the 
arms  of  her  distressed  mother,  all  crying  for  mercy. 
Never  before  have  I  witnessed  the  power  of  God  in  so 
great  a  degree  among  so  many  people.  We  com 
menced  singing  and  praying,  and,  glory  be  to  God ! 
many  distressed  souls  found  peace  and  pardon  of  their 
sins  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  The  meeting  was 
protracted  till  late  at  night."" 

Again,  Sunday,  Sept.  11th :  "A  great  multitude 
of  people  were  this  day  assembled.  The  power  of 
God  was  signally  displayed.  Many  were  crying  aloud 
for  mercy ;  a  man  fell  to  the  ground  and  lay  for  three 
hours  apparently  lifeless.  When  he  recovered,  he 
arose  praising  God  very  effectively  for  what  He  had 
done  for  his  soul." 

Sunday,  ]^ov.  13th:  "To-da}^  we  had  indeed  a 
little  Pentecost.  From  three  to  four  hundred  persons 
had  collected ;  more  than  the  barn,  in  which  we  had 
assembled  for  worship,  would  contain.  I  preached  to 
them  from  Titus  III,  with  greatliberty  and  effect,  for 
the  salvation  of  souls.  The  congregation  was  remark- 
ably attentive  to  the  Word ;  though  it  rained,  those 
Avho  had  no  shelter  in  the  barn  kept  their  stand  in  the 
rain  without  the  least  disturbance.  It  is  indeed  sur- 
prising, and  at  least  to  me  somewhat  mysterious,  to 


FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     139 

behold  the  manner  in  which  the  power  of  God  works 
here  among  the  people.  During  the  time  of  preaching 
several  persons  fell  to  the  floor  ;  some  lay  as  if  they 
were  dead,  others  shook  so  violently  that  two  or  three 
men  could  scarcely  hold  them.  Sometimes  the  excite- 
ment would  be  so  great  that  I  had  to  stop  speaking 
for  several  minutes,  until  the  noise  abated.  Some 
few  were  praising  God  and  shouting  for  joy." 

Sunday,  20th:  "We  then  dismissed  the  meeting 
but  the  people  had  no  desire  to  depart.  I  spake  to 
them  again  until  almost  exhausted,  still  they  continued 
to  stay.  At  night  I  had  an  appointment  at  the  dis- 
tance of  a  mile  and  a  half.  Here  again  the  Lord  was 
present.  Sinners  on  every  side  fell  to  the  floor  as  if 
they  were  shot ;  among  others  was  a  youth  about 
thirteen  years  of  age.  Some  were  struck  with  awe, 
others  flew  into  a  passion,  gathering  their  friends  and 
relatives  up,  and  carried  them  out  of  the  house,  saying 
this  Avas  the  work  of  the  devil.  They  carried  the 
youth  up  stairs,  and  laid  him  on  the  bed,  watching 
him  with  great  anxiet3^  "When  he  recovered  from  his 
swoon  he  began  to  praise  God,  and  exhorting  all 
around  in  so  wonderful  a  manner  that  about  a  dozen 
of  them  came  in  distress,  confessing  with  tears  that 
they  had  sinned  against  God,  and  crying :  '  What 
shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ? '  " 

Sunday,  June  2d:  "This  morning  at  our  love  feast 
we  had  a  real  Pentecost;  the  power  of  God  came 
down  on  the  congregation  ;  in  an  instant  some  fell  to 
the  grouhd  and  lay  as  if  lifeless ;  others  cried  out  for 
mercy  with  all  their  strength ;  yet  others  cried  and 
sobbed  with  a  contrite  heart ;  while  some  were  shout- 
ing, jumping,  and  praising  God  with  all  their  power. 


140  CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMER 

No  wonder  if  some  here  also  w^ere  amazed  and  con- 
founded when  they  witnessed  sucli  extravagant  joy 
as  made  them  suppose  the  people  to  be  drunk  or  beside 
themselves," 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  entries  is  made  June 
26,  1809:  "  This  forenoon  we  had  love  feast.  At  the 
commencement  it  seemed  to  be  rather  cold  and  lifeless. 
At  last  the  powder  of  God  came  over  the  assembly.  Some 
fell  lifeless  to  the  ground,  the  whole  congregation 
melted  into  tears,  and  many  desired  to  be  prayed  for. 
At  last  we  concluded  the  meeting,  and  many  came 
with  streaming  eyes  to  bid  me  farewell,  desiring  I 
should  pray  for  them.  Ultimately  I  had  to  leave  these 
dear  children,  and  almost  tear  or  force  myself  away, 
to  pursue  my  company,  who  had  started  some  time. 
After  I  had  left  town  some  distance  I  found  about 
seven  young  people  in  the  woods,  on  their  knees,  pray- 
ing and  crying  for  mercy  ;  another  lay  on  the  ground, 
and  a  fi'irl  was  standino-  a  short  distance  from  the  road- 
side  crying.  I  had  to  stop  again,  get  off  my  horse,  and 
exhort  them  to  persevere  in  prayer  until  the  Lord 
should  have  mercy  on  them  and  bless  them,  assuring 
them  that  they  would  surely  find  Jesus.  I  then  began 
singing,  and  rode  on  to  the  next  house,  where  I  over- 
took my  company." 

He  relates  this  circumstance  concerning  himself, 
August  4th  :  "  This  has  been  an  uncommonly  warm  day ; 
the  heat  was  nearly  unsupportable.  After  crossing  the 
Potomac  river  a  very  heavy  rain  poured  down  in  tor- 
rents. I  stopped  for  awhile  at  a  house  on  the  roadside, 
until  the  rain  had  ceased.  I  again  started,  although  it 
was  growing  late  in  the  day,  in  order  to  reach  the 
place  of  my  destination.     I  had  not  rode  a  great  dis- 


FOURTH  BISHOP     UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  141 

tance  when  a  thunder  storm  arose ;  presently  night 
came  on,  and  I  was  benighted  in  the  woods,  with  no 
other  light  than  that  afforded  by  an  occasional  flash  of 
lightning.  In-  this  situation  I  lost  the  path  I  had  to 
travel,  and  rode  for  a  considerable  time  through  the 
bushes  searching  for  the  path,  but  in  vain.  At  last  I 
got  off  my  horse,  tied  him  to  an  herb,  fell  on  my  knees 
and  prayed  to  my  Lord  and  Master  for  direction  and 
preservation,  it  thundering  all  the  time.  I  felt  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  and  felt  secure  under  his  Almighty 
wing.  On  rising  from  my  knees  1  jperceived  thejKoth 
only  a  few  yards  from  me.  I  mounted  my  horse  again, 
pursued  the  path,  and  in  a  short  time  reached  Brother 
Ambrose's  house.  Here  I  met  with  a  friendly  recep- 
tion and  a  good  fire  to  dry  my  clothes." 

It  was  not  always  pleasant  sailing.  Satan  could 
not  have  his  kingdom  invaded  by  a  man  of  such  spirit- 
ual power  without  some  resistance.  Sunday,  May  13, 
"  This  day  we  came  to  Carlisle,  and  preached  at  night 
in  the  Methodist  church.  We  had  a  powerful  time. 
The  friends  and  brethren  were  filled  with  love  to  God 
and  each  other,  which  is  not  the  least  surprising.  But 
the  natural  consequence,  persecution,  which  has  been 
suffered  here  in  an  eminent  degree,  is  truly  surprising. 

"Only  a  few  days  ago  the  servants  of  the  deVil 
knocked  a  preacher  down  in  the  street  on  his  way  home 
from  the  meeting  house;  and  last  night  a  young  man 
was  dreadfully  maltreated  and  injured,  and  lies  now 
in  a  dangerous  state  of  illness.  I  paid  him  a  visit,  at 
which  he  was  greatly  rejoiced.  In  conversation  he 
said  to  me,  if  it  was  the  will  of  God,  he  was  willing 
and  ready  to  die ;  that  he  enjoyed  peace  with  God  and 
could  even  pray  for  his  murderers. 


142  CHRISTIAN    Np;WCOMER, 

Samuel  JTuber  relates  the  following  as  having  been 
tokl  liim  by  Newcomer  himself:  "A  camp  meeting 
was  being  held  in  York  count}^,  Pa.  At  one  time  dur- 
ing its  continuance,  the  wicked  threatened  to  storm 
the  camp  in  the  night.  Towards  evening  they  began 
to  collect  in  gi'eat  crowds,  armed  with  bludgeons  and 
other  offensive  weapons,  making  great  threats  and 
menaces  against  the  tent  holders.  Amongst  the  pro- 
fessors of  religion  on  the  ground,  might  have  been  seen 
those  who  made  great  pretensions  to  faith  and  trust  in 
Providence  when  no  danger  was  near ;  there  were  also 
some  praying  peojjle  whose  trust  and  faith  in  a  super- 
intending Providence  became  strengtliened  in  a  time 
of  danger.  These,  seeing  the  camp  surrounded  and 
threatened  in  this  hostile  manner,  betook  themselves 
to  prayer,  looking  to  the  Lord  for  help. 

"Towards  evening,  just  about  the  time  the  'Amale- 
kites '  were  preparing  for  the  assault,  dark  clouds  were 
seen  slowly  rising  above  the  horizon  ;  thunders  were 
heard  rolling  in  the  distance;  piles  of  clouds,  swiftly 
pro})elled  forward  by  an  invisible  force,  came  rolling- 
over  each  otlier  and  obscured  the  heavens  from  view ; 
palpable  darkness  covered  the  camp ;  and  then,  as  if  a 
match  had  been  applied  to  a  fiery  element,  peals  of 
thunder  shot  forth  from  the  clouds  above ;  immense 
flashes  of  lightning  glared  throughout  the  camp : 
meteors,  likc'  large  fire-balls,  falling  from  the  zenith 
to  the  earth,  and  carried  by  a  mighty  whirlwind,  rolled 
and  flew  to  and  fro  over  the  ground,  and  over  the  peo- 
ple, and  through  some  of  the  tents,  and  went  far  off 
into  the  woods.  It  appeared  as  if  the  battlements  of 
heaven  had  opened,  sending  its  elements  down  in  suc- 
cessive streams  of  fire.     This  scene  lasted   over   one 


FOUKTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BKETllUEX   IN  CHKIST,  143 

hour,  during  which  time  the  wicked  became  so  much 
terrified  that  by  rapid  movements  they  cleared  tliem- 
selves  from  the  ground.  After  this  phenomenon  had 
subsided,  and  no  one  was  hurt  b}^  it,  the  meeting  went 
on  without  further  disturbance.''  * 

As  Newcomer  was  leaving  the  ground,  and  while 
on  his  way  to  York,  some  persons  said  to  him  :  "  You 
can  now  see  that  your  camp  meetings  are  wrong,  and 
God  sent  his  fire  among  your  people  to  destro}^  the 
camp."  But  Newcomer  replied:  "  God  was  our  guard 
and  sent  his  tliunder  and  lightning  to  prevent  the 
wicked  from  doing  us  injury,"  *  Was  not  tliis  the 
case  ? 

Newcomer  began  his  preaching  in  17TT.  He  with 
the  other  preachers  came  together  as  often  as  once  a 
year  at  a  great  meeting  to  consult  together  and  to 
encourage  each  other.  At  one  of  these  meetings  it 
Avas  resolved  to  hold  a  conference  with  all  the  preach- 
ers in  order  to  take  into  consideration  in  what  manner 
they  might  be  most  useful.  This  v/as  held  in  1789,  in 
Baltimore,  in  Mr.  Otterbein's  parsonage,  and  laid  the 
first  final  basis  for  the  United  Brethren  Church.  There 
were  seven  persons  present,  five  representing^  the  Re- 
formed element  and  two  the  Mennonite.  At  first  he, 
like  others,  preached  at  appointments  made  here  and 
there  as  seemed  best.  Before  long  he  has  appointments 
within  what  he  calls  his  circuit.  These  were  at  first 
appointments  of  his  own  arranging,  which  he  served 
regularly.  At  one  time  these  were  in  three  different 
States. 

Otterbein  and  Boehm  were  the  first  bishops  of  the 
Church.     At   an    annual   conference    in   1802,  it   was 

*  Huber's  Autobiography,  p.  223. 


144  CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMER 

resolved  "that  in  case  one  of  our  superintendents, 
William  Otterbein  or  Martin  Boehm,  should  die,  an- 
other in  his  place  shall  always  be  appointed.  This  is 
the  wish  of  these  two  brethren  and  the  universal  wish 
of  all  the  preachers  present."  Otterbein  died  N"ovem- 
ber  17, 1813;  Boehm  died  May  23,  1812.;  Geeting  died 
January  28,  1812.  There  was  need  of  an  active 
bishop,  and  in  1813  Newcomer  Avas  elected.  Of  this 
conference  he  says :  "■  I  find  the  brethren  are  greatly 
divided  in  respect  to  the  discipline  of  our  society." 
"  To-day  (6th)  we  had  somewhat  of  a  turbulent  time ; 
the  brethren  appeared  not  to  understand  each  other. 
The  brethren  elected  a  superintendent  or  bishop  who  is 
to  have  charge  of  the  whole  society."  He  was  now  in 
his  sixty-fourth  year. 

In  1810,  he  made  his  first  visit  West.  June  12, 1810, 
"  This  week  I  was  chiefly  engaged  in  making  prepara- 
tions for  a  journey  to  the  State  of  Ohio."  In  many  re- 
spects the  western  world  was  a  surprise.  "  July  1st,  I 
was  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Pa.;  7th,  came  to  Samuel  Picker- 
ing's, a  pious  Quaker  family  in  Belmont  County ;  9th, 
came  through  Zanesville ;  11th,  came  through  Lancas- 
ter, where  I  found  several  acquaintances ;  16th,  came  to 
Mr.  Crider's,  in  Ross  county.  The  people  are  generally 
employed  in  gathering  their  grain ;  the  harvest  is  very 
abundant;  I  doubt  whether  I  have  ever  seen  handsomer 
wheat  than  what  I  saAV  this  season  in  this  country  ; 
frequently  I  said  to  my  fellow-travelers,  'Oh,  what  a 
country  this  will  be  in  half  a  century  hence' ;  20th,  we 
rode  through  the  Pickaway  plains,  many  thousand 
acres  covered  with  grass ;  23d,  rode  through  Dayton 
and  came  to  Andrew  Zeller's,  where  we  were  joyfully 
received  ;  29th,  preached  in  Cincinnati ;  Friday,  August 


FOURTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.        145 

5th,  had  a  two  clays'  meeting  at  Lewis  Kemp's,  near 
Dayton;  10th,  rode  to  a  camp-meeting  near  Chilli- 
cothe ;  13th,  to-day  I  had  a  little  conference  with  the 
brethren ;  fifteen  preachers  (how  I  write!  preachers,  in- 
deed! we  are  not- worthy  the  appellation)  were  present ; 
bless  the  Lord  for  the  brotherly  love  and  unanimity 
which  prevailed  throughout ;  20th,  rode  about  twenty 
miles  and  preached  to  a  goodly  number  of  the  people, 
I  am  surprised  where  so  many  people  came  from  in 
this  ajpjparent  wilderness,  September  14,  after  being 
twelve  weeks  on  my  journey,  I  reached  home  this  eve- 
ning and  found  my  friends  all  well.  Bless  the  Lord,  O 
my  soul,  for  all  his  goodness  and  mercj^" 

June  8th,  1811,  he  starts  on  another  trip  to  the  "West 
to  look  after  the  preachers.  He  usually  did  this  once 
a  year  as  long  as  he  lived,  making  nineteen  in  all.  He 
was  an  active,  persistent  itinerant,  ll^either  rain  nor 
floods  nor  storms,  nor  any  other  ordinary  difficulties 
seem  to  have  daunted  him.  He  was  never  so  happy  as 
when  on  his  horse  going  from  place  to  place,  seeking 
opportunities  to  tell  men  of  Him  who  came  to  seek  and 
to  save  the  lost. 

In  1814  he  was  re-elected  Bishop  for  thr^  years. 
He  makes  this  note  in  his  journal,  "The  orethren 
elected  poor  unworthy  Christian  Newcomer  as  Bishop 
and  Superintendent  for  three  years ;  may  God  have 
mercy  on  me  and  grant  me  his  assisting  grace,  to  dis- 
charge my  duty  faithfully."  This  was  a  very  import- 
ant conference.  The  men  whose  personal  influence  had 
been  suiflcient  to  unite  the  two  wings  of  the  Church, 
and  enforce  its  few  rules  and  regulations  were  both 
dead.  There  were  good  men  among  their  ministers, 
but  no  one  who  could  take  the  place  of  Otterbein,  The 


146  CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMER, 

Church  was  extending  her  borders,  and  it  became  neces- 
sary to  have  the  doctrines  and  discijDhne  in  printed 
form.  Two  copies  in  manuscript  were  laid  before  this 
conference.  One  of  them  had  been  prepared  b}'  New- 
comer himself,  who  plainly  saw  the  need  of  more  sys- 
tem, and  the  other  by  a  Mr.  Snook,  originally  a  Mora- 
vian. It  was  thought  best  to  consult  the  churches  in 
the  West,  and  definite  action  was  therefore  ])ostponed 
until  the  Miami  conference  would  hold  its  session. 
Miami  met  and  agreed  that  a  general  conference  should 
1)6  held,  that  delegates  should  be  elected,  and  that  the 
rules  of  the  Church  should  then  be  corrected,  amended 
or  altered,  as  seemed  best.  It  was  agreed  to  hold  the 
General  Conference  near  Mt.  Pleasant,  June  6,  1815. 
It  met  in  John  Bonnet's  school-house,  about  one  mile 
east  of  Mt.  Pleasant. 

Fourteen  plain  preachers,  all  speaking  the  German 
language,  made  up  the  first  General  Conference.  ''They 
were  men  of  sound  minds  and  warm  Christian  hearts  ; 
men  thoroughly  read  in  the  Bible  and  well  trained  in 
the  school  of  experience  ;  humble  men  such  as  God  can 
use,  because  they  will  give  him  the  glory."  C.  New- 
comer and  A.  Zeller  were  elected  to  preside,  and  Jacob 
Baulus  and  H.  G.  Spayth  were  chosen  secretaries. 
Newcomer  says  in  his  journal:  6th,  "This  day  General 
Conference  convened  at  Old  Brother  Draksel's  ;  ma}^ 
the  Lord  have  mercy  on  us;  instead  of  love  and  unanim- 
ity, the  spirit  of  hatred  and  discord  seemed  to  prevail. 
May  the  Lord,  in  mercy,  grant  us  more  Avisdom  and 
grace.  7th,  This  day  we  met  again  :  Bless  the  Lord, 
the  heat  had  considerahly  ahated  and  the  business  befoi'e 
us  was  conducted  better  than  I  expected." 

"  Nor  will  we  disguise  the  truth  ;  the  sky   was  not 


FOUKTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  147 

exactly  clear.  A  heavy  atmosphere  would  ever  and 
anon  press  and  swell  the  bosom,  and  then  came  ruffling 
breezes,  and  sharp  words.  This  could  not  last  long. 
The  darkening  clouds,  which  hung  over  this  Con- 
ference, .must  be  cleared  away.  A  calm  atmosphere 
and  a  clear  sky  could  not  be  dispensed  with ;  a  pause 
ensued.  The  Conference  agreed  to  humble  themselves 
before  God  in  prayer ;  and  such  a  prayer-meeting  your 
humble  servant  never  witnessed  before  nor  since. 
Brethren  with  streaming  eyes  embraced  and  thanked 
God.  From  that  hour  to  the  end  unanimity  and  love 
smiled  joyously  on  that  assembly. 

"Permit  a  special  notice  here.  Nothing,  perhaps, 
was  anticipated  with  greater  certainty  by  any  delegate 
in  going  to  that  Conference,  than  that  the  meeting 
should  take  place  in  the  sweetest  and  most  humble 
subordination  to  each  other,  each  esteeming  his  brother 
higher  than  himself,  and  worthy  of  more  honor.  But 
the  spirit  of  the  children  of  Zebedee  and  their  mother 
is  still  visible  on  such  occasions,  and  never  more  so 
than  when  wise  and  good  rulers,  either  in  Church  or 
State,  are  removed  by  death.  For  who  should  have 
sufficient  wisdom,  who  should  be  so  well  qualified  to 
take  the  helm  and  guide  the  vessel  safely,  as  the  Zebe- 
dees?  And  should  a  doubt  be  raised,  they  are  ready  to 
answer,  '  We  are  able.'  " 

Some  of  these  evangelical  ministers,  who  labored  in 
the  revival  movement  of  this  period,  held  connection 
with  other  churches.  Newcomer,  soon  after  his  con- 
version, left  the  Mennonite  Church,  of  which  he  had 
been  a  member,  and,  so  far  as  he  could,  joined  himself 
to  the  United  Brethren.  As,  yet,  they  were  simply  a 
collection   of  converted  people,  many   of   whom   had 


148  CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMKR, 

nominal  membership  in  other  Churches,  but  who  were 
drawn  together  by  a  common  sympathy.  If  this  Avork 
is  to  endure,  these  people  must  be  held  together  by 
stronger  bonds  than  these.  If  allowed  to  go  back  to 
their  own  cold  formal  Churches,  their  piety  will  be 
chilled.  If  held  together  b}^.  the  personal  influence  of 
two  men,  when  these  are  gone  disintegration  will 
begin.  Newcomer  early  saw  this,  and,  so  far  as 
known,  was  one  of  the  first  who  began  to  organize  the 
membership  into  classes.  He  met  with  opposition,  but 
showed  common  sense.  Practical  man  as  he  was,  this 
seemed  to  him  the  only  way  to  success.  As  far  as  can 
be  learned,  he  began  to  organize  in  1809.  On  May 
10,  1809,  he  says :  "  This  day  the  session  of  our 
conference  convened.  My  wish  and  desire  was  to  have 
better  order  and  discipline  established  in  our  society, 
and  some  of  my  brethren  were  of  opinion  that  this 
was  unnecessary  ;  that  the  word  of  God  alone  was  all- 
sufficient,  and  were  therefore  opposed  to  all  discipline. 
I  could  plainly  see  that  this  opposition  originated  in 
prejudice,  therefore  I  sincerely  and  fervently  prayed 
for  the  illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Lord 
answered  my  prayer,  when  I  almost  despaired  of 
success,  and  had  nearly  determined  to  leave  and  with- 
draw from  the  society.  The  brethren  resolved,  and  a 
resolution  was  adopted  in  the  Conference,  to  give  a 
friendly  and  brotherly  answer  to  the  request  and 
address  of  the  Methodist  Conference,  and  I  hope  that 
peace,  unanimity  and  -concord  will  be  preserved  and 
strengthened  in  the  respective  societies."  On  Sunda3% 
April  5,  1812,  "  preached  in  the  afternoon  at  Valentine 
Doub's,  where  I  formed  a  class  of  ten  m^mhers.''^  On 
Sunday,  May  16,  1813:   "Had  a  quarterly  conference 


FOURTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.        149 

at  Peter  Brown's,  where  I  formed  a  class  of  twenty- 
two  members."  July  24, "  preached  at  widow  Weimar's, 
and  formed  a  class  of  fifteen  members."  August, 
1818,  he  did  something  toward  organizing  classes,  at 
Antietam,  in  Maryland.  He  was  arraigned  by  the 
Muskingum  Conference,  in  1819,  for  so  doing.  About 
the  same  time  he  formed  a  class  at  Greencastle,  Pa. 
It  is  said  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  were  about 
to  get  some  of  his  converts,  and  he  took  some  loose 
leaves,  joined  them  together,  enrolled  the  names  of 
the  three  members,  and  that  this  was  the  first  class 
book  in  the  Church. 

In  1813,  May  5th,  he  says :  "  I  find  the  brethren  are 
greatly  divided  in  opinion  in  respect  to  the  discipline 
of  our  society."  As  noticed  elscAvhere,  in  1815,  a  manu- 
script cop3'  of  a  discipline  for  the  better  order  of  the 
Church,  was  written  by  l^ewcomer,  and  laid  before 
the  General  Conference,  and,  indeed,  the  preceding 
annual  conferences.  January  1,  1817,  he  says:  "AVo 
had  a  considerable  trouble  with  a  few  of  the  brethren  to 
convince  them  of  the  necessary  discipline  and  regula- 
tion in  society  ;  they  would  not  come  into  any  order  or 
regulation,  and  still  desired  the  others  to  coincide  with 
them."  June  1,1818:  "This  day  we  held  our  con- 
ference. This  was  something  rather  new  and  strange 
to  some  of  the  brethren,  and  they  appeared  loth  to  ac- 
quiesce and  come  under  the  rules  of  discipline ;  but  they 
were  soon  convinced  of  their  error." 

From  1813  to  1820  was  an  unsettled  period  m  our 
denominational  history.  Its  founder  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Reformed  Church.  Before  his  death,  and 
after  his  death,  it  had  drawn  largely  from  the  Menno- 
nites,   through  the   labors  of  Boehm,  Newcomer  and 


150 


CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMEli, 


others.  As  the  Reformed  element  waned,  the  Menno- 
nite  increased  in  strength.  Unaccustomed  to  much 
organization,  and  desiring  the  utmost  simplicity,  it  is 
questionable  whether  tlie  United  Brethren  Church 
mit'ht  not  have  been  sacrificed,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
strong  hand  and  native  tact  of  JSTewcomer,  He  never 
introduced  trouble,  but  always  sought  to  allay  it.  He 
was  unambitious  save  to  pi-omote  the  honor  of  his  Master, 
Sincere,  honest,  conscientious,  faithful,  skillful,  he  held 
in  submission  the  unruly  elements.  A  good  student  of 
human  nature,  he  knew  how  to  deal  with  men.  Early 
seeing  the  importance  of  a  thorough  organization,  from 
his  position  as  Bishop,  he  could  control  the  restless 
s])irits  about  him  until  time  and  reflection  had  shown 
the  error  of  their  ways  and  the  wisdom  of  his  counsels. 
He  was  the  re-founder  of  the  Church,  and,  humanly 
speaking,  had  it  not  been  for  the  tact  and  good  sense, 
and  the  piety  of  this  man  of  God,  we  might  not,  as  a 
denomination,  be  in  existence  to-day. 

As  before  said,  he  began  to  preach  in  1Y77.  He 
^vas  a  member  of  the  first  conference  in  1789.  He 
presided  at  the  first  conference  held  in  Ohio,  in  1810. 
Shortly  before  the  death  of  Otterbein,  in  1813,  he  was 
elected  Bishop.  He  was  re-elected  Bishop  for  three 
years  in  1814  by  the  Hagerstown  conference.  He  was 
re-elected  by  the  General  Conference  in  1815  and  each 
succeeding  conference,  including  that  of  1829,  three 
years  before  he  died.  He  was  a  minister  for  fifty-three 
years,  and  a  Bishop  about  seventeen.  For  fifty-three 
years  he  was  m  his  saddle  almost  daily,  going  from 
bouse  to  house,  from  town  to  tow^n,  from  State  to  State, 
carrying  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation.  He  had  a  mes- 
sage from  God  to  a  lost  and  ruined  world,  and  lie  could 


FOURTH  BISHOP  LNITKD  BRKTTIKKX  TX  CHRIST.  161 

not  rest  until  he  had  delivered  it.  He  did  not  always 
have  a  warm  reception,  but  none  the  less  did  he  work. 
January  18,  1801,  he  says:  ''This  day  I  went  from 
house  to  house;  found  the  people  generally  very  igno- 
rant in  matters  of  religion,  and  very  shy  and  reserved 
toward  me,  believing  me  t(j  he  a  tleceiver;  may  God 
grant  them  more  knowledge  in  these  things."  Midti- 
tudes  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Kentucky,  Kew  York,  and  in  Canada,  heard 
from  his  own  lips  the  glad  news  of  a  risen  Savior.- 
He  had  a  vigorous  constitution  that  enabled  him  to 
travel.  He  kept  a  good  horse,  kept  him  in  good  con- 
dition, and  when  well  mounted,  took  but  little  account 
of  heat  or  cold  or  distance.  Sometimes  he  would  travel 
a  whole  day  with  nothing  to  eat,  even  after  he  had 
reached  his  threescore  years  and  ten.  In  his  eighty- 
first  year,  on  his  last  trip  West,  he  rode  fifty-two  miles 
in  one  day.  As  we  read  his  daily  journal,  briefly  kept 
during  all  these  arduous  labors,  no  word  of  complaint 
escapes  him,  but  a  constant  thanksgiving.  He  does 
not  think  that  he  is  doing  too  much  for  his  Master,  but 
is  ever  gratified  that  he  is  permitted  to  do  anything. 
Difficulties  and  per])lexities  only  nerve  him  for  greater 
efforts,  and  make  him  more  cheerful. 

His  relations  to  the  Methodists  were  pleasant  and 
satisfactory  to  them,  and  in  every  way  complimentary 
to  himself.  He  learned  of  their  success  in  saving- 
souls,  and  rejoiced  in  it.  They  held  joint  meetings  to- 
o-ether,  and  around  one  common  table  all  distinction 
of  sect  was  lost  in  Christian  love  and  fellowship.  At 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Conference  in  Harrisonburg, 
in  1809,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consult  with 
Xewcomer,  to  see  if  there  could  not  be  some  plan  of 


152  CHRISTIAN    NEWCOMER, 

cooperation  agreed  upon  between  the  two  Churches. 
Says  Newcomer  in  his  journal :  "  I  am  fully  persuaded 
that  air  of  us  were  seriously  concerned,  and  had  noth- 
ing else  in  view  but  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls 
and  the  furtherance  of  the  good  cause  of  our  Lord  and 
Master  in  spreading  His  kingdom  throughout  our 
blessed  country."  A  resolution  w^as  adopted,  which  he 
was  to  deliver  to  Otterbein,  He  enters  in  his  journal 
on  April  10th,  the  following :  "  During  the  night  I 
slept  but  very  little,  my  mind  was  so  intensely  occupied 
about  the  connection  of  the  societies ;  several  times  I 
arose  during  the  night,  praying  for  grace  and  wisdom 
from  above.  Oh !  that  the  Lord  may  take  the  cause  in 
His  own  hands  and  direct  all  things  to  His  own  glory." 
A  friendly  letter  -was  returned  to  the  Methodist  Epis- 
co])al  Church,  signed  by  Boehm,  Geeting  and  New- 
comer. 

As  a  result  of  this  general  good  feeling  which 
prevailed  a  plan  of  cooperation  mutually  satisfactory, 
was  agreed  upon.  The  letters  of  correspondence  that 
passed  have  been  preserved.  Each  Church  remained 
distinct  as  before.  Methodist  houses  of  worship  were 
to  be  open  to  the  Brethren  when  not  used  by  the 
former,  while  the  Brethren  houses,  on  like  conditions, 
were  to  be  open  to  the  Methodists ;  class  meetings 
and  love  feasts  to  be  open  in  both  Churches  to  mem- 
bers of  both  societies.  In  all  this  movement  New- 
comer played  a  very  important  part. 

Long  and  faithfully  has  he  labored,  but  his  work 
on  earth  will  soon  be  done.  A  few  weeks  after  he  had 
made  his  last  western  trip,  he  writes  :  "  I  am  still  in- 
disposed ;  remained  at  home,  engaged  in  reading  and 
prayer.     My  loving  Savior  extended  His  loving  kind- 


FOURTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHREN  IN  CHRIST.         153 

ness  to  me  in  secret  prayer,  and  blessed  my  poor  soul 
so  abundantly,  that  it  became  impossible  for  me  not  to 
shout  and  praise  the  Lord  aloud.  Glory  and  honor  be 
to  His  holy  name  forever  !  Hallelujah ! "  Recover 
ing  somewhat,  he  goes  to  Yirginia,  goes  to  Boons- 
borough,  Marjdand,  and  on  the  way  God  mercifully 
preserves  him.  Attends  a  camp-meeting  in  York 
county;  met  a  camp-meeting  near  Hagerstown  ;  and  so 
he  goes  until  October  11th,  when  he  writes:  "  I  re- 
mained at  home,  engaged  in  reading  and  prayer; 
found  my  soul  particularly  drawn  out  to  God  in  behalf 
of  all  my  brethren  in  the  ministry.  I  feel  my  feeble- 
ness increasing  from  day  to  day.  The  power  and 
strength  of  my  constitution  is  gone."  From  the  12th 
to  the  1st  of  the  following  month  he  is  out  again,  and 
then  writes :  "  This  day  I  am  so  unwell  that  I  am  not 
able  to  leave  my  room,  but  glory  to  my  God,  I  have 
sweet  communion  with  Him.  Though  solitary,  1  am 
not  left  alone,  for  my  Savior  is  still  with  me,  and  con- 
tinues the  best  of  friends."  November  11th,  he  writes : 
"  I  jfind  that  I  am  barely  able  to  hold  a  pen  to  make 
this  entry  in  my  journal.  Kot  many  days  are  left  unto 
me  to  live  in  this  world.  Soon  the  call  will  be,  '  Give 
account  of  thy  stewardship.'  Bless  the  Lord,  I  am  in 
nowise  afraid  to  appear  in  His  presence,  for  I  know 
One  who  is  my  surety,  and  has  paid  my  debts." 

Thus  he  lingers,  confined  to  his  room  for  some 
weeks.  He  goes  with  Hildt  to  Hagerstown,  and  was 
much  rejoiced.  On  Christmas  day,  attended  a  sacra- 
mental meeting,  and  had  a  most  gracious  and  power 
ful  time.  February  7th,  attended  a  Methodist  quar- 
terly meeting  in  Hagerstown.  Started  for  Virginia  in 
March,  but  the  weather  being  bad  and  body  weak, 


154  CHRISTIAN   NEWCOMEK, 

returned  home.  On  the  4th  of  March,  he  makes  this 
last  entry  in  his  journal :  "  This  forenoon  I  tried  to 
write  in  my  journal,  but  alas!  I  find  that  I  am  not  able 
to  perform  the  task,  so  I  lay  down  my  pen,  and  the 
Lord  above  knows  whether  I  shall  be  able  to  resume 
it  again.  The  Lord's  will  be  done.  Amen,  Hallelu- 
jah!" 

With  this  triumphant  shout,  and  in  full  view  of  the 
Jordan  of  death,  this  man's  record  of  his  own  work 
closes.  From  day  to  day  he  continued  to  grow  weaker 
and  weaker.  A  short  time  before  his  death,  his  friend 
and  colleague.  Bishop  Kumler,  arrived  from  the  West. 
The  old  veteran  cross-bearer  was  greatly  rejoiced  to  see 
him,  and  they  spent  a  few  very  happy  hours  in  each 
other  s  company. 

He  departed  this  life  on  the  12th  of  March,  1830, 
with  perfect  composure,  and  without  even  a  strug- 
gle. A  few  minutes  before  his  death,  he  requested  a 
young  man  present  to  pray  once  more ,  which  he  did. 
Father  I^ewcomer,  in  his  own  strength,  without  any 
assistance,  arose  from  his  pillow  the  last  time,  and  with 
those  present  in  the  room,  presented  himself  at  his  bed- 
side, before  that  throne  where  he  had  formed  a  spirit- 
ual acquaintance  with  his  Lord  and  Master  for  many  years 
past  and  gone  by.  After  the  prayer  was  ended,  he  again 
lay  down,  reclining  his  head  on  his  pillow,  drew  breath 
a  few  times,  and  calmly  expired  in  the  full  assurance  of 
a  blessed  immortalit}^  His  whole  countenance  ap- 
peared to  be  a  faithful  mirror  in  which  the  serenity  of 
mind  and  the  peace  within  was  depicted  in  faithful 
characters. 

A  large  multitude  from  the  surrounding  neighbor- 
hood attended  his  funeral.     Bishop  Kumler  preached  a 


FOUETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHKEN  IN  CHEIST.         155 

discourse  in  the  German  language,  from  John  xvi :  22 : 
"And  ye  now  therefore,  have  sorrow,  but  I  will  see 
you  again,  and  your  heart  shall  rejoice,  and  your  joy  no 
man  taketh  from  you."  Brother  John  Zahn  followed, 
and  spoke  in  the  English  language  from  Deuteronomy 
xxxiv :  5  :  "  So  Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord  died  there, 
in  the  land  of  Moab,  according  to  the  word  of  the 
Lord."  He  is  buried  near  Keedysville,  Md.,  with  no 
stone  to  mark  his  last  resting-place. 

We  were  anxious  to  present  our  readers  with  a  por- 
trait of  this  grand  old  worker,  but  we  could  not  find 
one.  If  there  is  one  in  existence,  we  have  not  been 
able  to  find  it. 

H.  G.  Spayth,  his  personal  friend  and  co-laborer, 
tells  this  as  to  his  methods :  "When  traveling  Susque- 
hanna Circuit  in  the  year  1812,  in  the  depth  of  winter  of 
cold  and  snow,  I  had  a  meeting  in  Berks  county.  While 
preaching,  Bro.  Newcomer's  tall  figure  made  its  appear- 
ance at  the  door.  I  beckoned  him  to  come  to  the  stand, 
but  the  room  being  crowded  he  remained  where  he  was, 
and  without  leaving  the  door,  closed  the  meeting  with 
a  very  impressive  exhortation,  and  sang  and  prayed. 
I  pronounced  the  benediction.  The  audience  made 
move  to  leave.  Now  was  Newcomer's  time .  He  shook 
hands  with  one  and  then  with  another,  addressing  some 
by  name ;  he  exhorted  all  young  and  old,  Avith  a  voice 
and  visage  as  spiritual  and  holy  as  if  he  had  just  come 
from  the  Court  of  Heaven.  Many  began  to  weep  and 
we  had  a  gracious  and  powerful  blessing.  Thus  often 
when  it  was  thought  that  he  was  far  away,  he  would 
come  upon  meetings  unexpectedly  and  unlooked  for, 
but  his  coming  was  everywhere  and  always  hailed  with 
joy.  For  a  truth  God  was  with  him,  and  had  made 
blessing  to  the  church  and  to  the  people. 


156  CHKISTIAN   NEWCOMER 

"  He  was  indeed  a  chosen  vessel  of  the  Lord,  as  his 
subsequent  labors  most  amply  prove.  Though  in  some 
respects  less  than  Otterbein,  Boehm  or  Geeting,  never- 
theless, take  him  as  he  was,  we  are  justified  in  saying 
of  him,  that  the  grace  of  God  was  not  bestowed  on  him 
in  vain,  for  he  labored  more  abundantly,  preached  more 
frequently  and  visited  more  extensively.  He  was  just 
the  man  by  nature  and  by  grace  for  his  place.  With- 
out him  the  cluster  would  have  been  incomplete.  Tall 
in  stature,  of  a  commanding  figure,  and  a  keen  visage, 
a  voice  moderately  strong,  and  if  at  times  impeded  for 
a  moment  by  some  natural  object,  it  but  heightened 
the  effect  of  his  preaching,  drawing  the  attention  of 
the  audience  only  nearer  to  the  speaker,  affording  him 
an  opportunity  to  draw  the  gospel  net  more  effectually 
around  them  and  thus  secure  a  larger  draft.  From  first 
to  last,  and  for  many  years,  Bro.  Newcomer  made  good 
proof  of  his  ministry,  in  all  things  showing  himself  a 
pattern  of  good  works."* 

*  Spayth's  History,  p.  68. 


REV.  ANDREW  ZELLER, 
FIFTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST 


INFORMATION  concerning  the  early  history  of 
this  man  is  very  meager.  Indeed,  this  is  true  of 
most  of  the  ancient  fathers.  A  few  years  ago  one  wrote 
(and  what  was  true  then  is  for  the  most  part  true  yet) : 
"  The  United  Brethren  have  eschewed  biographies  and 
autobiographies.  But  a  single  autobiography,  or  biog- 
raphy, if  we  may  except  some  meager  notices  in  peri- 
odicals, has  yet  been  published.  Of  some  of  our  ablest 
ministers  we  know  but  this,  that  they  entered  the  bat- 
tle-field in  youth,  and  fought  valiantly  until  the  day 
was  well  spent,  and  that  they  died  bravely  at  their 
posts.'- 

Andrew  Zeller  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  the 
year  1T55.  He  resided  in  Berks  County,  in  Eastern 
Pennsylvania.  We  know  nothing  of  his  early  history. 
He  was  raised  on  a  farm,  and  would  be  familiar  with 
the  duties  and  trials  of  a  farmer's  life,  and  at  that 
period  they  were  not  a  few.  His  education  would  be 
very  limited,  and  comprise  a  knowledge  of  the  simplest 
branches. 

In  later  years  he  used  to  repeat  the  following  story 
of  his  early  boyhood :  There  were  six  boys  of  whom 
we  have  knowledge,  in  his  father's  family.  They  lived 
in  a  new  country,  which  had  to  be  prepared  for  the 
plow  before  it  could  yield  an  abundant  harvest.  It 
is  altogether  probable  that,  with  so  large  a  family  to 

157 


158  ANDEEW    ZELLER, 

look  after,  the  members  of  it  must  use  the  plainest 
food.  They  resided  near  the  banks  of  a  little  stream 
called  the  Swatara,  which  the  boys  perverted  into 
Sweet  Arrow.  These  six  boys  would  at  times  gather 
around  a  large  dish  of  soup,  which  was  the  only  article 
of  diet  for  that  meal,  and  with  no  other  utensils  for 
eating  but  iron  spoons.  With  these  each  did  his  best 
to  satisfy  the  demands  of  a  strong  appetite.  These 
young  pupils  had  already  learned  the  art  of  comparing 
their  dish  with  the  stream  near  them,  and,  as  they  were 
rapidly  emptying  their  dish,  they  would  occasionally 
measure  its  depth  with  their  spoons,  and  say,  "  The 
Sweet  Arrow  is  so  deep,"  conscious  of  the  fact  that,  as 
the  depth  diminished,  their  pleasure  was  lessened. 

He  was  converted  about  the  year  1790.  A  number 
of  references  are  made  to  him  in  "Newcomer's  Jour- 
nal." In  the  record  for  May  21,  1799,  he  says:  "A  two 
days'  meeting  convened  at  John  Zeller's.  Bros.'  Crum, 
Kreider  and  Boehm  delivered  the  messages  to  the  peo- 
ple. I  stayed  for  the  night  with  Andrew  Zeller."  No- 
vember 15, 1799,  he  writes:  "This  day  we  caime to  Mr. 
Zeller's,  near  the  little  Swatara,  and  had  a  blessed  meet- 
ing." October  10,  1800  :  "  This  day  our  sacramental 
meeting  commenced  at  Bro.  Zeller's,  in  Berks  county. 
I  spoke  first  from  Titus  iii,  verses  5,  6,  7;  the  word 
appeared  to  be  accompanied  with  power."  May  21, 
1 802 :  "  I  set  out  for  Swatara  to  a  great  meeting,  tarried 
for  the  night  with  a  Mr.  Yotter,  a  serious  man."  22d  : 
"  I  arrived  at  Bro.  Zeller's,  the  place  appointed  for  the 
meeting.  The  Lord  was  present  in  convicting  and  con- 
verting power."  May  17, 1803 :  "  To-day  I  paid  a  visit 
to  a  Lutheran  minister.  The  man  is  truly  in  a  sad  con- 
dition.    In  conversation  I  said,  the  Lord  had  forsaken 


FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  159 

him  because  he  had  not  been  faithful  in  declaring  the 
whole  counsel  of  God.  He  is  very  near  the  point  of 
despair.  May  the  Lord  extricate  him.  At  night  he 
went  with  me  to  Mr.  Reigel's  where  we  both  remained." 
18th,  "^  This  morning  he  insisted  on  my  returning  home 
with  him  again,  which  I  did ;  sta3^ed  until  after  dinner, 
and  after  commending  him  to  the  Lord  in  prayer,  I 
pursued  my  way  and  arrived  with  a  joyful  heart  at  A. 
Zeller's."  We  find  no  record  of  any  visit  during  the 
year  1804. 

We  have  not  been  able  to  learn  when,  nor  under 
what  circumstances,  Mr,  Zeller  began  to  preach.  There 
was  a  formal  conference  of  the  early  preachers  at  Ot- 
terbein's  parsonage  in  1T89.  The  next  was  held  in 
1791,  at  the  house  of  John  Spangler,  eight  miles  from 
York,  Pa.  These  were  yearly  meetings  for  the  preach- 
ers for  general  consultation,  and  not  for  legislative 
action,  and  were  usually  held  in  connection  with  some 
of  the  great  meetings. 

We  do  not  find  Mr,  Zeller's  name  mentioned  among 
either  those  who  were  present  or  those  who  were  absent 
at  the  conference  of  1791,  We  have  a  record  of  the  men 
who  comprised  the  conference  of  1800,  which  was  an 
important  one  in  the  history  of  the  U.  B.  Church,  and 
we  do  not  find  his  name  on  the  list  either  of  those 
present  or  those  absent.  He  was  not  present  at  the 
conference  held  September  23,  a.  d.  1801,  at  Peter 
Kemp's,  in  Frederick  count}^,  Maryland.  The  next  con- 
ference met  at  the  house  of  John  Cronise,  in  Frederick 
county,  Maryland,  and  his  name  is  not  in  the  list. 
Kineteen  great  meetings  were  held  during  this  year, 
but  we  do  not  find  him  taking  part  in  any  of  them,  un- 
less it  was  at  his  own  home.     On  October  6,  1803,  the 


160  ANDREW   ZELLER, 

next  annual  conference  assembled  at  David  Snyder's,  in 
Cumberland  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Zeller'sname 
is  not  on  the  list.  The  conference  appointed  for  October 
3, 1804,  was  also  to  meet  at  the  house  of  David  Sny- 
der, in  Cumberland  county,  but  an  epidemic  prevailing 
in  Maryland,  and  in  the  place  where  the  conference 
was  to  meet,  but  five  brethren  were  present.  They  ex- 
amined the  letters  sent  up,  and  no  others  arriving,  they 
resolve  that  the  next  conference  shall  be  he  held  at 
Jacob  Baulus',  near  Middletown,  Maryland,  and  then 
adjourned  their  meeting. 

So  far  as  we  may  judge  from  the  record  left  us,  Mr. 
ZeUer,  while  residing  in  the  East,  was  a  w^arm-hearted, 
earnest  Christian  man,  who  was  a  faithful  member  of 
the  Church  and  interested  in  its  prosperit}^ ;  his  home 
was  the  stopping  place  for  the  preachers  as  they 
passed  through,  "where  they  always  found  a  cordial 
welcome,  and  who  were  rejoiced  to  tarry  with  him. 
His  home  seemed  to  be  the  preaching  place  for  this 
section,  and  meetings  were  held  here  as  often  as  con- 
venient. Once  or  twice  a  year  it  seemed  to  be  possible 
for  Mr.  Newcomer  to  hold  meetings  here  for  a  longer 
or  shorter  time. 

We  do  not  find  Mr.  Zeller's  name  on  the  conference 
records  ;  he  is  not  present  with  the  preachers ;  does  not 
appear  as  one  at  their  great  meetings;  is  not  found 
visiting  with  Newcomer,  or  others  of  the  itinerant 
class.  "We  are  driven  to  the  conclusion,  that  if  licensed 
at  this  time,  as  he  probably  was,  that  he  did  not  give 
himself  very  fully  to  the  work,  but  contented  himself 
with  such  spiritual  teaching  and  preaching  as  could  be 
done  near  his  own  home. 

In  A.  D.  1787,  an  ordinance  was  adopted  for  the 


FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  161 

government  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
northwest  of  the  Ohio  river.  In  1788  a  settlement 
was  made  at  Marietta.  The  country  was  now  open  for 
settlers,  and  as  early  as  1803  some  United  Brethren, 
seeking  homes  for  themselves  and  their  children,  came 
into  the  untrodden  forests  of  Ohio.  A  settlement  was 
made  in  the  region  of  Germantown  and  Dayton.  In 
A.  D.  1806,  a  United  Brethren  Society  was  organized 
at  A.  Zellers,  near  Germantown,  which  was  most  likely 
thQ  first  organization  of  this  kind  in  the  State.  Among 
the  first  preachers  of  the  United  Brethren  Church  in 
this  section,  we  find  the  names  of  Andrew  Zeller, 
David  Troyer  and  Thomas  Winters,  who  afterward 
became  a  minister  of  the  Keformed  Church.  Mr. 
Zeller  is  now  a  man  in  middle  life,  and  an  earnest  lover 
of  his  Church.  His  home,  as  usual,  is  open  for  religious 
services.  During  the  year  1806,  the  next  year  after  his 
arrival,  sinners  were  converted  and  added  to  this  little 
pioneer  band.  For  some  years  his  house  is  a  kind  of 
a  headquarters  for  the  Church  in  the  "West.  As  his 
home  and  heart  and  purse  were  all  open  for  the  good 
of  the  Church  when  he  lived  east  of  the  Susquehanna, 
they  are  doubly  so  in  this  western  country,  with  its 
increased  privations  and  needs.  Mr.  ISTewcomer,  whose 
heart  was  rejoiced,  when  after  a  hard  day's  ride  he 
reached  the  home  of  Andrew  Zeller,  by  the  banks  of 
the  Swatara,  is  just  as  welcome  to  his  new  home  amid 
the  waving  forests  of  Ohio. 

He,  and  those  who  came  with  him,  were  earnest, 
aggressive  men,  who  believed  the  earth  was  the  Lord's, 
and  that  men  should  give  him  the  affections  of  their 
hearts.  They  had  been  subjected  to  toils  and  priva- 
tions in  the  East,  and  they  looked  for  the  same  here. 


162  ANDREW   ZELLEE, 

To  men  of  such  aims  and  purposes,  there  were  many 
open  doors.  The  calls  for  preachers  were  numerous. 
The  labor  was  severe,  and  the  compensation  very  small, 
but  in  the  midst  of  toils  and  privations,  they  sowed 
the  seed  which  has  produced  an  abundant  harvest. 
They  belonged  to  the  conference  in  the  East,  but,  face 
to  face  with  the  hardships  of  pioneer  life,  they  could 
not  well  attend.  It  seemed  almost  a  necessity  to  organize 
a  conference  in  the  West.  Newcomer  was  authorized 
to  visit  the  West,  and  organize  a  conference  here,  which 
he  did  on  the  13th  day  of  August,  a.  d.  1810,  at 
Michael  Crider's,  in  Ross  county,  Ohio,  which  was  the 
first  conference  west  of  the  Alleghenies.  The  records 
have  not  been  kept,  but  Newcomer  makes  mention  of 
it  in  his  ""  Journal."  One  of  the  men  who  was  a  mem- 
ber of  this  body  was  Andrew  Zeller. 

It  is  pleasant  to  see  the  impression  made  upon  Mr. 
Newcomer  in  this,  his  first  visit  to  the  West.  He  was 
past  sixty  years  of  age,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  youth 
was  gone.  He  made  his  trip  on  horseback  from  Mary- 
land, and  he  was  an  expert  traveler.  He  crossed  the 
Monongahela  river,  came  into  Jefferson  county,  and 
thence  to  Zanesville.  He  stopped  with  Mr.  Benedum, 
a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  "  so  many  people  had 
assembled  together  that  the  house  in  which  we  were  to 
preach  could  not  contain  the  half  of  them,  so  we 
preached  before  the  house,  under  the  canopy  of  heaven." 
He  comes  in  Ross  county.  "  The  people  are  generally 
engaged  in  gathering  in  their  grain ;  the  harvest  is 
very  abundant.  I  doubt  whether  I  have  ever  seen 
handsomer  Avheat  than  I  saw  this  summer  in  this 
county.  Frequently,  I  said  to  my  fellow-traveler, 
Oh,  what  a  country  this  will  he  a  century  hence  !     20th. 


FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


163 


We  rode  through  the  Pickaway  plains  —  many  thou- 
sand acres  covered  with  grass.  23d.  To-day  we  rode 
through  Dayton,  and  came  to  Andrew  Zeller's,  where 
we  were  joyfully  received.  13th.  To-day  I  had  a 
httle  conference  w^ith  the  brethren  —  fifteen  preachers, 
(liow  I  write !  Preachers  indeed,  we  are  not  worthy 
the  appellation)  were  present.  Bless  the  Lord  for  the 
brotherly  love  and  unanimity  of  mind  which  prevailed 
throughout." 

In  Newcomer's  journal,  April  29th,  A.  D.  1811,  we 
read  :  "  This  day  Bro.  Geeting  and  Andrew  Zellei 
came  to  see  me,  and  stayed  with  us  all  night.  We  had 
a  long  and  interesting  conversation  together  respecting 
the  work  of  God  generally,  and  particularly  in  the 
western  country.  30th.  I  rode  with  Zeller  to  Shep- 
herdstown.  May  2d.  This  forenoon  Bro.  Zeller 
preached  at  our  home."  Among  all  the  references 
made  by  Newcomer  to  Zeller  and  his  visits  to  his 
home,  this  is  the  first  reference  which  we  find  him 
making  of  his  preaching. 

During  the  remainder  of  his  life,  almost  every  year 
Newcomer  made  a  visit  to  the  West,  to  look  after  the 
flock  and  to  enlarge  the  work;  and  Andrew  Zeller's 
was  his  regular  stopping  place.  "August  6th.  We  rode 
eight  miles  to  Andrew  Zeller's,  where  our  confCx-ence 
is  appointed  to  be  held.  The  session  of  the  conference 
was  opened  this  afternoon  by  reading  chapter  4  of  Sec- 
ond Corinthians.  It  continued  until  Saturday  at  noon. 
Peace,  union  and  brotherly  love  characterized  the  meet- 
ing. Three  brethren  were  appointed  to  travel  continu- 
ally, and  form  regular  circuits.  August  22d,  A.  D. 
1814.  I  arrived  at  Brother  Andrew  Zeller's,  where 
our  conference  is  to  be  held.     23d.     Our  conference  is 


164  ANDKEW   ZELLER, 

commenced.  As  president  I  opened  the  confer- 
ence with  prayer.  The  conference  continued  until 
the  27th.  We  had  considerably  less  difficulty  than 
I  expected,  and  closed  the  session  in  great  harmony 
and  unanimity.  Praise  the  Lord  for  it.  29th.  To-day 
we  had  meeting  again,  and  administered  the  sacrament. 
After  meeting,  tlie  preachers  dined  once  more  at 
Brother  Andrew  Zeller's ;  we  then  bade  each  other  an 
affectionate  farewell,  and  departed  to  our  respective 
fields  of  labor.  May  the  Lord  make  each  of  us  a  fit 
and  useful  instrument  in  his  hands  to  work  in  the  vine- 
yard." 

This  was  an  important  conference.  It  was  thought 
by  the  more  aggressive  men  of  the  Church,  that  a  gen- 
eral conference  should  be  held,  to  supj^ly  some  deficiency 
in  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Church,  and  give 
more  system  and  uniformity  to  their  administration. 
The  members  in  the  East  felt  tliat  on  so  important  a 
matter,  their  brethren  in  the  West  should  be  consulted. 
This  conference  most  cheerfully  took  up  the  subject, 
and  recommended  that  the  members  which  were  to 
meet  in  general  conference  should  be  elected  from 
among  the  preachers  from  all  parts  of  the  Church,  by 
a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  members  in  the  Church. 
The  election  was  held.  Twenty  delegates  had  been 
provided  for,  but  fourteen  came  together.  Five  of  them 
were  from  Pennsylvania,  three  from  Virginia,  two  from 
Maryland  and  four  from  Ohio.  The  Ohio  delegates 
were  Andrew  Zeller,  A.  Ileistand,  Daniel  Troyer  and 
George  Benedum.  The  conference  met  abotit  one  mile 
east  of  Mt.  Pleasant,  Pa.,  in  a  simple,  plain  school-house 
known  as  John  Bonnet's  School-house.  Mr.  Bonnet 
was  a  devoted  member  of  the  Church ;  and  near  here 


FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHREN  IN  CHRIST,  165 

also  resided  the  venerable  Abraham  Draksel.  C.  New- 
comer and  Andrew  Zeller  were  elected  to  preside; 
Jacob  Baulus  and  N.  G.  Spayth  were  chosen  secretaries. 
A  company  of  fourteen  plain  ministers,  all  speaking 
the  German  language,meeting  in  a  little  country  school- 
house,  may  not  loolc  like  a  very  formidable  affair,  but 
it  did  very  much  toward  crystalizing  the  elements  of 
the  new  church,  and  giving  it  the  trend  which  it  has 
since  taken. 

"Nor  must  we  turn  away  from  this  conference  be- 
cause it  was  graced  by  no  distinguished  Doctors  of 
Theology,  no  patron  princes,  no  celebrated  literary 
lights ;  for  in  the  conference  on  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
which  received  the  commission  to  disciple  all  nations, 
no  prince,  not  one  learned  doctor,  not  a  single  great 
literary  light  was  found.  There  was  the  pure-minded 
Nathaniel,  the  impulsive  Peter,  the  devoted  John. 
And  in  the  humble  conference  to  which  the  reader  has 
just  been  introduced  were  found  men  of  sound  minds, 
of  warm  Christian  hearts ;  men  thoroughly  read  in  the 
Bible  and  w^ell  trained  in  the  school  of  experience; 
humble  men  such  as  God  will  use,  because  they  will 
give  Him  the  glory.  They  had,  nearly  all  of  them, 
either  been  introduced  into  the  ministry  under  the 
superintendence  of  Otterbein  or  had  enjoyed  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  him.  A  number  of  these  had  labored 
with  him  for  many  years,  and  had  long  enjoyed  the 
benefit  of  his  godly  counsels."* 

The  preachers  of  the  West  were  most  anxious, 
likely,  to  have  a  representative  man  from  their  own 
section,  and  accordingly  Andreio  Zeller  and  Christian 
Newcomer  were  elected  Bishops. 

♦Lawrence,  vol.  3,  p.  37. 


166  ANDREW    ZELLER, 

The  man  who  was  one  of  the  secretaries,  and  who 
has  revealed  to  us  a  little  of  the  spirit  of  this  body,  has 
gone  to  his  long  home  andean  no  longer  be  questioned, 
but  he  has  left  behind  him  the  hint  which  seems  to 
show  that  then  as  now,  men  were  apt  to  interpret  too 
literally  the  apostle's  statement  that  "  He  that  desireth 
the  office  of  a  Bishop  desireth  a  good  thing."  Says 
Mr.  Spayth:  "  But  the  spirit  of  the  children  of  Zebedee 
and  their  mother  is  still  visible  on  such  occasions,  and 
never  more  so  than  when  wise  and  good  rulers,  either 
in  Church  or  State,  are  removed  by  death ;  for  who 
should  have  sufficient  wisdom,  who  should  be  so  well 
qualified  to  take  the  helm  and  guide  the  vessel  safely, 
as  the  Zebedees?  And  should  a  doubt  be  raised  they 
are  ready  to  answer,  '  "We  are  able." ' 

Previous  to  this  time  there  had  been  some  discussion 
concerning  the  laying  on  of  hands. 

At  the  session  of  the  Miami  conference  June  27, 
1815,  in  Fairfield  count}^  Newcomer,  who  had  been 
ordained  by  Otterbein,  ordained  Christian  Crum,  and 
then,  with  the  assistance  of  Crum,  ordained  seven 
others,  among  whom  was  Bishop  Andreii:)  Zeller.  The 
second  general  conference  convened  in  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Pennsylvania,  in  June,  181Y,  and  continued  Newcomer 
and  Zeller  as  Bishops  until  the  next  conference,  which 
was  to  be  in  four  years. 

A  new  conference  was  now  organized  called  the 
Muskingum.  Six  ministers  and  two  bishops  were  pres- 
ent. The  Miami  Conference  was  to  convene  in  War- 
ren County.  Newcomer  tells  us  of  some  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  had  to  be  encountered  in  going  from  the 
Muskingum  to  the  l^Jiami  conference.  "June  8th, 
Preached  in  Circleville.     Zeller  and   myself    traveled 


FIFTH    BISHOP   UNITED   BKETHKEN    IN   CHKIST.         167 

on.  When  we  reached  the  Scioto  Kiver  we  found  the 
stream  very  much  swollen.  "We  could  not  reach  the 
ferry  without  riding  a  considerable  distance  in  the 
water  which  had  overflown  a  large  marshy  bottom. 
Brother  Zeller  led  the  way.  His  horse  fell  under  him 
in  the  mud,  but  he  recovered  and  reached  the  ferry  in 
safety.  I  followed  him.  My  horse  also  fell  but  could 
not  recover,  and  stuck  fast  in  the  mud.  I  had  to 
alight  in  the  water,  took  my  saddle-bags  from  the 
horse  and  carried  them  out  on  dry  ground,  wading  in 
water  up  to  my  hips.  My  horse  exerted  all  his  power 
to  get  out  of  the  mud,  and  finally  succeeded  in  extrica- 
ting himself.  I  now  gave  thanks  to  God  on  my  knees 
for  my  preservation,  rode  back  to  Jefferson ville  and 
lodged  with  Musselman,  where  I  rested  after  my  nar- 
row escape.  What  has  become  of  Brother  Zeller  I  am 
unable  to  tell.  9th.  Rode  to  Charlestown  and  lodged 
at  a  public-house.  Here  I  received  the  information 
that  Brother  Zeller  was  eight  miles  ahead  of  me.  10th. 
This  morning  I  set  out  very  early ;  rode  twenty-five 
miles  before  I  fed  my  horse  or  had  breakfast.  Over- 
took Mr,  Zeller  in  a  small  village.  We  then  rode  to- 
gether to  Lebanon.  11th.  We  arrived  at  Zeller's. 
Here  I  rested  on  the  12th."  At  this  time  Newcomer 
was  about  sixty-nine  years  of  age,  and  Zeller  sixty- 
four. 

From  1815  to  1821,  Mr.  Zeller  filled  the  office  of 
Bishop  with  entire  acceptability.  His  health  not  being 
very  good,  and  the  labor  and  exposure  of  travel  being 
severe  upon  him,  he  could  no  longer  give  such  active 
service  to  the  Church  as  this  office  demanded.  His 
piety,  his  good  sense,  and  his  abundant  liberality  had 
contributed  largely  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Church  in 


168  ANDREW    ZELLER, 

Ohio,  and  his  influence  will  be  felt  as  long  as  the  Church 
has  an  existence  in  the  Ohio  Yalley. 

He  was  twice  married,  and  by  his  first  wife  had 
eight  children.  They  were  named  as  follows :  John, 
Michael,  Andrew,  and  George ;  Elizabeth,  who  was 
married  to  John  Kemp  ;  Christina,  married  to  Henry 
Kumler,  Jr.;  Mary,  married  to  Jacob  Antrim,  and  Bar- 
bara, married  to  Philip  Zehring.  So  far  as  known  to 
the  writer  none  of  these  children  are  living.  We  have 
sought  carefully  to  find  a  picture  of  him,  but  nothing 
of  the  kind  can  be  secured,  and  it  is  very  probable  that 
none  ever  existed.  He  is  described  in  his  old  age  as  "  a 
little  above  medium  height  and  remarkably  straight ; 
hair  white  and  on  the  top  of  his  head  thin  ;  e3^es  gray 
and  full,  and  skin  very  fair.  To  the  last  year  of  his 
life  he  walked  perfectly  erect,  and  with  a  quick  and 
measured  step." 

He  died  on  the  25th  of  May,  1839,  in  the  eighty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age,  and  is  buried  in  the  cemetery 
at  Germantown.  As  we  have  elsewhere  said,  the 
Miami  Conference  in  its  early  history  held  a  number  of 
its  sessions  at  his  home.  The  same  conference  was  in 
session  at  Germantown  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Mr.  Spayth  relates  this  story  of  him,  which  came 
under  his  own  observation :  "  While  on  his  official  tour 
in  1815,  he  had  to  have  a  small  piece  of  work  done  in 
the  town  of  M.  The  mechanic  was  a  worthy  man  but 
would  not  attend  Church  nor  hear  preaciiing.  While 
doing  the  work  he  cast  a  heedless  look  at  Brother  Zeller, 
who  stood  not  far  away  with  his  hands  folded  before 
him.  The  man  looked  the  second  and  the  third  time, 
but  with  feelings  which  had  begun  to  steal  on  him,  for 
which  he  could  not  account.     Another  look,  and  an 


FIFTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BRETHREN    IN   CHRIST.         169 

arrow  shot  through  his  heart.  From  that  moment  he 
had  no  rest  (the  stranger  stood  ever  before  him  with 
folded  hands,  and  as  he  thought  praying  to  God  for  his 
soul)  till  God  spoke  peace  to  him.  That  man  has  ever 
since  been  a  consistent  Christian.  How  many  splendid 
sermons  are  preached  which  are  followed  by  no  con- 
versions. What  a  contrast  between  what  men  call 
great  preachers  and  those  God  approves.  One  hears 
the  echo  of  applause ;  the  other  is  followed  by  a  train 
of  happy  souls  bound  to  meet  him  in  Heaven.  We  now 
see  through  a  glass  darkly ;  fleeting  visions  pass  before 
and  around  us  which  will  prove  happy  realities  when 
the  veil  shall  be  lifted,  and  we  shall  see  the  saints  who 
are  the  joy  and  diadem  of  the  true  minister  reflecting 
the  light  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  As  he  approached  the  dark  river,  he  expressed,  to 
some  of  the  brethren  who  visited  him,  a  great  longing 
for  the  ISTew  Jerusalem.  He  calmly  folded  his  arms, 
and  without  a  struggle  passed  away.  Thus  calmly 
and  pleasantly  he  entered  into  rest  after  more  than 
fifty  years  of  faithful  service  in  the  cause  of  the  Mas- 
ter." 

"  Why  weep  ye  for  the  falling 

Of  the  transient,  twilight  gloom? 
I  am  weary  of  the  journey, 
And  have  come  in  sight  of  home. 

"  I  can  see  a  white  procession 
Sweep  melodiously  along, 
And  I  would  not  have  your  mourning 
Drown  the  sweetness  of  their  song. 

"  The  battle-strife  is  ended  ; 

I  have  scaled  the  hindering  wall ; 
I  am  putting  off  the  armor 
Of  the  soldier — that  is  all. 


170  ANDEEW   ZELLEK. 


"  Would  you  hide  me  from  my  pleasures? 
Would  you  hold  me  from  my  rest  ? 
From  my  serving  and  my  meeting, 
I  am  called  to  be  a  guest." 

Alice  Carey. 


-jj^AIL  /h'^prncu^ 


REV.  JOSEPH  HOFFMAN, 

SIXTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


EEY.  JOSEPH  HOFFMAK  was  born  on  the  19tli 
of  March,  1780  a.  d.,  in  Cumberland  County,  Pa. 
His  father  was  a  member  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church,  the  same  Church  to  which  Otterbein  belonged, 
and  his  mother  was  a  member  of  the  Seventh-Day  Bap- 
tists. His  parents  were  moral  and  industrious  people, 
but  had  not  experienced  that  religious  condition  known 
to  us  as  a  change  of  heart.  Soon  after  the  birth  of  this 
son  they  were  awakened  to  a  knowledge  of  their  con- 
dition, found  pardon  for  their  sins,  enjoyed  the  witness 
of  the  Spirit,  joined  the  United  Brethren  Church,  and 
were  consistent  members  of  it  during  the  remainder  of 
their  lives. 

Mr.  Hoffman  did  not  have  the  advantages  of  culture 
which  have  come  with  the  opportunities  of  to-day,  but 
he  had  a  good  native  intellect,  which  he'  improved  as 
he  had  opportunity,  and  thereby  secured  quite  a  fund 
of  information.  He  was  a  man  of  indomitable  spirit, 
cheerful  in  disposition,  and  disposed  to  be  a  little  jovial 
from  his  earliest  years.  Those  who  recognized  his 
ability  believed  that,  if  ever  converted,  he  would  be- 
come a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  which  expectation  was 
realized  when  he  was  saved  by  grace. 

As  early  as  fourteen  years  of  age  he  felt  that  he  was 
a  great  sinner.  This  knowledge  came  to  him  not 
through  the  teaching  of  any  one  so  far  as  known,  but 

171 


172  JOSEPH    HOFFMAN, 

by  the  direct  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  saw  that 
himself  and  the  world  about  him  were  lying  in  wicked- 
ness. These  impressions  remained  with  him  for  years. 
He  had  no  pious  friend  to  advise  him,  and  yet  he 
greatly  needed  directing  into  the  right  path,  so  he 
opened  his  heart  to  his  wife.  While  fishing  one  day, 
he  was  unusually  merry  and  jovial,  and  on  his  way 
home  liis  wife  reproved  him  for  it,  by  saying  that  it 
did  not  look  as  though  he  was  very  anxious  to  be  relig- 
ious. This  was  a  rebuke  he  did  not  expect,  and  it  took 
effect.  He  heeded  the  admonition,  retired  to  a  grove, 
and,  beside  an  old  tree,  gave  his  heart  to  God.  He 
himself  was  accustomed  to  say  in  after  years :  "  I  heard 
the  voice  of  God,  saying,  thy  sins  which  are  many  are 
all  forgiven  thee." 

He  entered  into  the  spiritual  life  when  twenty-one 
years  of  age.  Soon  after  this  time  the  call  of  the 
Master  came  to  him :  "  Go  speak  to  the  people." 
Those  around  him  had  no  preaching,  and  they  needed 
it  very  badly.  He  saw  them  destitute,  and  did  what 
he  could  to  meet  their  wants.  In  1803,  a.  d.,  he  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  properly  constituted  authori- 
ties, and«in  the  following  yearhe  entered  upon  an  itiner- 
ant life,  which  continued  until  1812,  when  his  health 
for  a  time  gave  away. 

Spayth  says  of  him  during  this  period  :  "  Virginia, 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  were  alternately  his  field 
of  labor.  In  Brother  Hoffman,  the  itinerant  preacher 
was  freely  exemplified.  In  labors  abundant,  even  to 
excess.  An  originality  and  inspired  power  character- 
ized his  preachingin  a  peculiar  manner.  Sinners  wept 
and  believers  rejoiced.  His  joy  in  the  gospel  harvest 
was  nevertheless  balanced  by  the  burden,  the  heat,  the 


SIXTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BRETHKEN   IN   CHRIST.  173 

sweat  and  fatigue,  which  like  so  many  ministering 
angels  waited  on  the  itinerant  preacher  wherever  he 
went,  and  Joseph  Hoffman  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  their 
constant  attendance  from  1804  to  1812.  Six  or  seven 
months  before  the  sitting  of  the  annual  conference  (in 
1812),  in  a  calm  atmosphere,  the  sound  of  Hoffman's 
voice  had  been  distinctly  heard  a  mile  from  the  house 
he  preached  at,  and  yet  that  voice  was  not  strained, 
but  flowed  in  unison  with  the  gospel  theme.  But  at 
that  time  he  arose  slowly,  as  one  borne  down  by  some 
unseen  weight,  and  in  his  effort  to  speak,  that  strong 
voice  was  reduced  to  a  faintness ;  the  book  trembled  in 
his  hands ;  this  sight,  and  the  few  words  which  he 
attempted  to  say,  moved  the  audience  to  the  strongest 
sympathy ;  they  knew  the  cause  and  felt  the  more 
easily  affected.  To  human  appearance  his  health  and 
strength  were  gone." 

By  a  judicious  husbanding  of  his  strength,  and  a 
prudent  tempering  of  his  zeal,  his  health  improved,  and 
he  was,  after  a  time,  again  ready  for  efficient  work. 
Along  with  the  joy  which  he  experienced  in  leading 
men  to  Christ  were  the  privations  he  suffered  and  the 
anxiety  that  came  to  him  from  protracted  absence 
from  his  family.  It  was  not  a  pleasant  thing  to  him 
that  the  wife  by  his  side  should  be  hastening  to  a 
premature  old  age,  if  not,  indeed,  death  itself,  in  the 
doing  of  these  things,  which  should  be  done  by  others. 
She  was  a  faithful  wife,  and  the  lack  of  adequate 
support  to  him  made  it  necessary  for  her  to  carry 
burdens,  which  weakened  her  frame.  "While  he  went 
forth  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Lord,  she  aided  as  best 
she  could,  by  labor  and  by  prayer  at  home,  to  keep 
him  in  the  field 


174  JOSEPH    HOFFMAN, 

In  Hoffman's  da3's  the  idea  was  very  prevalent  that 
ministers  should  preach  on  Sunday,  without  cost  to  the 
people,  and  during  the  rest  of  the  [veek,  or,  as  much 
of  it  as  might  be  necessary,  time  should  be  given  to  their 
farms  or  their  merchandise.  That  theory  has  not  been 
entirel}^  exploded  in  our  own  day.  The  writer,  a  few 
years  since,  found  some  persons  in  Ohio  who  thought 
the  present  method  of  preaching  was  a  very  expensive 
matter.  It  was  not  the  way  of  the  fathers.  These 
men  thought,  and  honestly  thought,  so  far  as  we  know, 
that  paying  men  compensation  for  their  whole  time 
might,  and,  no  doubt  would  induce  men  to  undertake 
to  preach  who  were  not  called  of  God  to  the  work, 
and,  therefore,  would  bring  much  discredit  on  the 
church ;  while  others,  who  preached  without  pay, 
would  not  do  so  unless  influenced  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
They  had  been  so  trained  in  the  Churches,  from  which 
they  came,  hence,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  they 
could  easily  break  away  from  such  surroundings. 
Says  Rev.  Samuel  Huber :  "  Now,  although  the  first 
United  Brethren  preachers,  with  few  exceptions, 
preached  without  pay,  it  must  be  understood  that,  in 
most  cases,  they  were  farmers,  and  could  afford  to 
do  so.  I  received,  during  my  ministry  of  over  forty 
years'  continuance,  less  than  twenty  dollars  for  trav- 
eling expenses  and  preaching.  All  this  does  not, 
however,  prove  that  men  who  pursue  no  other  calling 
than  that  of  the  ministry  should  labor  in  it  without  a 
complete  remuneration." 

But  to  teach  this  and  to  attempt  to  practice  his 
own  teaching  was  no  easy  thing  in  Hoffman's  day.  He 
believed  that  a  man,  called  of  God  to  this  sacred  work, 
should  give  his  time,  himself  his  all  to  the  preaching  of 


SIXTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.  175 

the  gospel  and  tlie  performance  of  pastoral  work.  While 
he  sought  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  people  whom 
he  served,  he  fully  believed  that  a  broad  symmetrical 
Christian  character  could  not  be  developed  except 
where  men  were  willing  to  consecrate  their  means  to 
the  furtherance  of  the  gospel.  It  is  the  teaching  of 
Holy  Writ  that  they  who  preach  the  gospel  shall  live 
of  the  gospel.  He  was  in  advance  of  his  age,  and 
therefore  a  reformer  of  his  times.  We  have  hardly 
yet  reached  the  truth  that  all  a  man  has  belongs  to 
the  Lord,  and  is  to  be  used  for  the  promotion  of  his 
cause. 

The  early  preachers  who  were  sent  forth  by  Otter- 
bein  and  Boehm  were  licensed  to  preach,  so  they  did 
not  run  without  authority,  but  none  of  them  had  been 
formally  ordained.  While  God  had  set  his  seal  of  ap- 
proval on  their  work  by-  giving  them  souls  for  their 
hire,  yet  to  old  and  established  church  members  it 
might  seem  a  little  disorderly  not  to  submit  to  such  a 
solemn  ordinance.  It  seemed  to  Hoffman  that  such 
ordination  should  be  secured  so  as  to  quiet  the  tongue 
of  the  fault-finder,  and  provide  against  any  quibbling 
that  might  hereafter  arise.  He  visited  Brother  New- 
comer, who  had  not  yet  been  ordained,  and  who  resid- 
ed some  ninety  miles  distant.  They  counseled  togeth- 
er and  the  result  was  they  concluded  to  visit  Father 
Otterbein,  who  was  in  feeble  health  at  the  time,  and 
be  ordained  by  him  before  the  summons  should  come 
to  him  to  "come  up  higher."  On  October  1, 1813, they 
arrived  in  Baltimore.  Otterbein  had  already  received 
a  letter  from  the  brethren  in  Ohio,  suggesting  that 
something  of  this  kind  should  be  done.  He  would 
have  done  this  before,  but  said :  "I  have  always  consid- 


176  JOSEPH    HOFFMAN, 

ered  myself  too  unworthy  to  perform  this  solemn  in 
junction  of  the  Apostle,  but  now  I  perceive  the  neces- 
sity of  doing  so  before  I  shall  be  removed."  Rev. 
Frederick  Shaffer,  one  of  Otterbein's  own  converts, 
was  tilling  his  pulpit  at  this  time,  and  he  was  selected 
to  be  ordained  with  them.  Rev.  Wm.  Ryland  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  was  invited  to  assist  in 
the  ordination. 

Mr.  Otterbein  was  helped  into  an  arm-chair,  and 
from  this  place  tenderly  addressed  them.  He  urged 
them  not  to  be  in  haste  to  lay  on  hands  on  those  whom 
they  should  be  called  upon  to  set  apart  by  this  holy 
ordinance.  Having  been  assisted,  he  rose  to  his  feet 
and  placed  his  hands  on  the  heads  of  the  candidates, 
and,  standing  upon  the  very  verge  of  the  unseen  world, 
this  patriarchal  man  solemnly  dedicated  these  two 
brethren  to  the  sacred  office  of  the  ministry.  It  was 
a  very  solemn  and  impressive  service  for  Mr.  Hoffman. 
Eight  days  after  this,  the  man  who  had  thus  consecra- 
ted him,  stood  himself  in  the  presence  of  the  King  of 
kings.  Mr.  Hoffman  was  in  the  prime  of  life,  being 
about  thirty-three  3^ ears  of  age,  and  from  this  holy 
presence  he  went  out  with  enlarged  views  of  the 
sacredness  of  his  calling,  and  with  a  burning  zeal  to  do 
more  than  ever  for  the  cause  of  his  Master. 

JSTewcomer,  in  his  "  Journal,"  gives  us  a  faint  out- 
line of  the  labors  of  that  early  period,  and  of  his  con- 
nection with  this  man : 

"January  29,  1806.  To-da}''  I  preached  at  Rocky 
Spring.  Brother  Joseph  Hoffman,  a  young  preacJier, 
came  here. 

"31st.  We  rode  to  Greencastle.  Brother  Hoffman 
spoke  to  a  numerous  assembly. 


SIXTH    BISHOP   UNITED   BEETHEEN   IN   CHEIST.         17Y 

"  May  4th.  We  rode  to  the  sacramental  meeting 
at  the  Antietam.  Crum  preached  first;  ISTeidig  and 
Hoffman  followed. 

"  26th.  This  day  Brother  Joseph  Hoffman  preached 
at  my  house. 

"  September  9th.  Brother  Hoffman  and  myself 
rode  to  Marsh  Creek. 

"  11th.     This  day  Hoffman  preached  at  my  house. 

''  February  10,  1808.  After  meeting  had  concluded 
Brother  Joseph  Hoffman  arrived.  We  rode  together 
to  Lewistown,  where  I  spoke. 

"  May  21st.  This  day  Brother  Hoffman  preached 
at  our  house. 

"  June  4:th.  I  set  out  to  the  quarterly  meeting  at 
the  Antietam.  Joseph  Hoffman  delivered  the  first 
sermon. 

"  January  21,  1809.  Eeached  Spangler's,  where  I 
met  Brother  Joseph  Hoffman  on  his  way  from  Balti- 
more. 

"  27th.  Kode  to  Hagerstown.  Brothers  Sneider 
and  Hoffman  came  to  me  this  day.  We  had  a  blessed 
meeting  at  night. 

"^  April  15th.  This  day  Brother  Hoffman  preached 
at  my  house. 

"  May  3d.  Brother  Hoffman  preached  (at  Middle- 
town)  in  the  afternoon.  A  vast  multitude  of  people 
had  collected.  Several  persons  were  convicted  of  their 
lost  situation,  and  cried  for  mercy.  Others  were  aston- 
ished, and  fled,  as  they  supposed,  for  safety. 

"  June  1st.  I  rested  here.  Brother  Joseph  Hoff- 
man, my  traveling  companion,  arrived  to-day. 

"  Sunday,  11th.  This  forenoon  we  preached  in 
Mount  Pleasant  to  a  numerous  congregation.     Hoffman 


1T8  JOSEPH    HOFFMAN, 

followed  me ;  it  appeared  to  me  to  make  some  impres- 
sion." 

The  following  incident  occurred  June  16  :  "We 
(Newcomer  and  Hoffman)  had  filled  and  attended  to 
all  our  appointments  and  were  therefore  at  liberty  to 
go  where  a  door  opened.  I  prayed  that  the  Lord 
might  point  out  some  work  in  his  vineyard.  In  a  sec- 
tion of  country  where  we  were  absolute  strangers  to  the 
people,  trusting  in  Providence  we  traveled  joyfully  and 
leisurely  along.  We  stopped  at  a  house,  the  owner  of 
which  was  an  old  Dunker  preacher.  I  asked  the  lady 
of  the  house  wh}^  she  had  not  attended  last  evening 
with  her  husband  ?  '  Oh  I  would  have  attended  cheer 
fully  if  my  husband  had  suffered  me  to  do  so.'  I  soon 
perceived  that  discord  and  uricharitableness  reigned  in 
the  family.  I  exhorted  them  to  love  each  other.  I 
spoke  to  them  and  also  to  their  children.  They  were 
all  very  much  affected." 

"  Sunday,  June  18,  at  night  I  preached  at  Jacob 
Wolfs ;  19,  Bro.  Hoffman  joined  me  again  ;  had  an  ap- 
pointment to  meet  at  the  ten-mile  meeting  house  ;  on 
arriving  we  were  refused  admittance,  so  I  preached  to 
the  people  from  under  the  shelter  of  an  oak  tree  and 
the  canopy  of  heaven  with  great  liberty.  In  the  aft- 
ernoon Bro.  Hoffman  preached  both  in  the  German 
and  English  languages.  The  house  was  crowded  full 
of  people ;  many  cried  aloud  for  mercy  and  the  whole 
congregation  was  melted  into  tears." 

"  September  2,  I  rode  about  thirty  miles  to  Hagers- 
town.  Joseph  Hoffman  preached  here  from  Canticles 
8:.  5,  6.  It  was  a  very  ingemimis  discourse.  October 
23,  Bro.  Hoffman  and  myself  preached  at  Henry 
Smidt's.     September  29.  1813,  Bro.  Joseph  Hoffman 


SIXTH   BISHOP  UNITED   BRETHREN   IN    CHRIST.        179 

came  this  morning  to  my  house  on  his  way  to  Balti- 
more, and  requested  me  to  accompany  him.  I^ovember 
8,  preached  at  Joseph  Hoffman's ;  11th,  a  meeting  of 
several  ministers,  among  whom  was  Joseph  Hoffman, 
was  held  to  form  a  union  if  possible  with  the  Albright 
Brethren.  Our  consultation  continued  until  the  13th, 
but  we  were  not  able  to  effect  a  union.  The  principal 
stumbling  block  appeared  to  be  this,  that  according  to 
our  discipline  our  local  preachers  have  a  vote  in  the 
conference  as  well  as  traveling  preachers." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing,  that  Mr.  Hoff- 
man made  full  proof  of  his  ministry.  While  health 
and  strength  permitted,  he  was  a  flaming  evangelist, 
full  of  zeal  for  his  Master,  traveling,  laboring,  enduring 
as  duty  seemed  to  demand. 

In  1814,  he  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the 
church  vacated  by  the  sainted  Otterbein,  in  Baltimore. 
He  was  here  three  and  one-half  years,  and  did  faithful 
work.  He  was  eminently  qualified  for  so  responsible 
a  position.  He  was  now  thirty-four  years  of  age,  in 
the  period  of  mental  vigor,  not  an  untried  man,  but 
the  personal  friend  of  Otterbein,  and  by  him  set  apart 
to  his  work. 

In  1817,  A.  D.,  he  removed,  with  his  family,  to 
Fairfield  County,  Ohio,  and  connected  himself  with 
the  Miami  Conference.  It  was  a  somewhat  sudden 
change  from  the  more  thickly  settled  sections  of  the 
East  to  the  sparsely  populated  soil  of  the  West,  but  he 
had  long  before  this  determined  that  when  duty  called, 
it  was 

"  Not  his  to  make  reply." 

So,  with  cheerful  heart,  he  enters  the  Master's 
service  here.     He   begins  to  break  to  the  pioneers  of 


180  JOSEPH   HOFFMAN 

this  new  West  the  bread  of  life,  and  lays  the  foundation 
of  churches  whose  membership  still  live  to  praise  him^ 
It  would  not  be  at  all  strange  that  a  man  of  his  power 
and  skill  should  at  once  take  a  prominent  place  in  the 
Miami  Conference.  His  native  ability,  his  extensive 
experience,  his  ordination  by  Otterbein  himself,  and 
the  years  of  service  in  the  Otterbein  Church,  justly 
gave  him  prominence.  It  seemed  altogether  fitting, 
when  Bishop  Zeller's  health  would  not  permit  him  to 
continue  longer  in  the  Bishop  s  office,  that  Joseph 
Hoffman  should  be  solicited  to  take  his  place.  As  the 
associate  of  Bishop  Newcomer,  he  filled  the  office  with 
credit  from  1821  to  1825,  when  he  "  retired  with  honor 
from  the  itinerancy." 

As  Bishop,  he  traveled  extensively.  Remembering 
the  Savior's  last  command,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,"  he  preached 
the  gospel  in  many  places  where  the  United  Brethren 
were  unknown.  He  visited  Canada,  and  spent  a  sum- 
mer there  in  preaching.  Like  many  another  of  those 
early  preachers,  he  did  not  carefully  garner  his  con- 
verts, and  the  results  of  his  work  were  reaped  by  other 
churches,  rather  than  his  own.  He  spent  a  winter  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  "when  he  gained  access  to 
many  pulpits  amongst  the  great  and  good,  and,  had 
rest  been  his  object,  he  might  have  been  settled  there 
in  a  very  desirable  living  which  was  proffered  him." 

In  1824  he  visited  Philadelphia,  and  soon  met  with 
an  open  door.  A  druggist,  Mn  Frederich  Yallett  by- 
name, entertained  him  at  his  own  residence.  "  While 
at  Philadelphia  he  walked  six  miles  into  the  country, 
and  preached  to  several  congregations  ;  on  his  return 
in  the  evening  Mr.   Yallett,  who  had  become  much 


SIXTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BKETHEEN    IN    CHRIST.         181 

attached  to  Mr,  Hoffman,  had  invited  to  his  home  a  num- 
ber of  his  friends.  '  There '  said  Mr.  Vallett  'is  a  preacher 
and  a  bishop  for  you.'  He  was  pressed  to  prolong  his 
visit,  but  official  duties  required  his  presence  elsewhere. 
It  was  with  mutual  regret  and  tenderness  that  he  parted 
with  the  hospitable  associations  of  those  comparatively 
strange  but  dear  friends." 

The  following  truthful  incident  may  be  given  as 
showing  his  boldness  and  unyielding  faithfulness  as  a 
minister  of  the  gospel. 

"  At  a  great  meeting  held  in  a  region  where  preju- 
dices prevailed  against  religious  excitement,  several 
persons  were  deeply  convicted,  one  of  whom  was  the 
wife  of  a  highly  respectable  clergyman.  This  incident 
caused  much  displeasure  with  the  friends  of  the  peni- 
tent, wounding  as  they  thought  their  respectability. 
On  Sabbath  morning  after  the  audience  had  assembled, 
and  the  service  was  about  to  commence,  eight  or  ten 
men  and  among  them  a  venerable  father  came  forward 
and  requested  Mr.  Hoffman  who  was  to  preach  to  be 
cautious  how  he  preached ;  that  some  had  been  alarmed 
the  day  previous,  and  if  any  one  should  be  further 
alarmed  he  must  cease  preaching  and  quiet  the  people. 
If  he  refused  to  do  this  they  had  vowed  the  meeting 
should  not  proceed,  as  they  were  good  Christians  and 
not  heathens.  They  charged  him  to  take  heed  to  their 
words.  He  had  not  proceeded  far  until  many  were 
bathed  in  tears,  and  cried  aloud  for  mercy.  The  men 
arose  to  their  feet  trembling  with  anger,  but  Mr.  Hoff- 
man spoke  the  faster  and  louder.  The  scalpel  of  truth  was 
thrust  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  wounded  heart  until  the 
disturbing  forces  of  the  moral  system  were  laid  bare. 
Then  came  the  balm  of  Calvary's  victim  —  the  blood 


182  JOSEPH    HOFFMAN. 

that  cleanseth  from  all  sin.  The  old  gentleman  waved 
his  strong  arm  toward  the  preacher,  and  while  in  the 
act  a  young  man  fell  at  his  feet  shrieking  '  O  father 
pray,  O  father  pray.'  He  attempted  to  flee,  but  his 
son  held  him  saying  '  Oh  father  dont  go — stay — pray.' 
The  Pharisee  was  conquered.  The  word  of  the  Lord 
had  its  course  and  was  glorified.  It  was  the  work  of 
God.     Who  could  resist  it  ? " 

He  was  a  rare  expounder  of  the  Scriptures.  Tho 
prophetic  parts  received  special  attention  at  his  hands, 
and  in  the  elucidation  of  these  he  was  quite  skillful. 
He  opened  what  the  types  and  shadows  of  the  old  Testa- 
ment, making  plain  to  his  hearers  the  underlying  truths 
which  God  meant  thereby  to  convey  to  his  people. 
He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  promulgation  of  Bible 
truth.  He  sought  in  his  presentation  of  it  to  commend 
himself  to  every  man's  conscience.  While  not  a  learned 
man,  in  the  technical  acceptation  of  that  term,  he  had 
more  than  usual  skill  in  the  presentation  of  the  truth. 
"  Every  passion  of  his  soul  was  expressed  from  the  more 
tranquil  to  the  intensely  agitated ;  from  the  tears  of 
compassion  and  grief  for  ruined  sinners,  to  the  glowing 
emotions  of  joy  and  triumph  through  Christ;  from  hal- 
lowed indignation  to  transporting  complacency." 

Mr.  Spayth,  who  knew  him  in  his  better  days, gives 
this  example  as  illustrating  his  manner  of  preaching : 
"At  a  quarterly  meeting  held  at  John  Stickler's,  in 
Westmoreland  county.  Pa.  in  181Y,  Joseph  Hoffman 
preached  from  Isaiah  i:  18, 19,  20 :  while  dwelling  upon 
the  character  of  sin  staining  the  soul  in  all  its  parts 
the  audience  listened  with  attention,  and  were  filled 
with  joy,  for  his  speech  distilled  as  the  dew  and  as 
the  small  rain  upon  the  tender  grass.     But  when  the 


SIXTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.         183 

conditions  were  presented,  and  the  threatenings  of 
insulted  justice  introduced,  the  feehng  became  intense. 
The  soul  stained  with  sin,  which  added  the  crime  of 
rebellion  against  Jehovah,  was  brought  into  the  pres- 
ence of  the  law  giver,  and  as  he  reached  the  last  verse 
of  the  text :  '  If  ye  refuse  and  rebel,  ye  shall  be 
devoured  by  the  sword,  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath 
spoken,  it,'  his  voice  rose  with  a  grandeur  and  solem- 
nity of  the  theme,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  sword 
were  actually  drawn.  '  What ! '  cried  he,  '  rebel,  and 
there  the  sword  ! '  Sinners  were  paralyzed  with  fear, 
as  if  they  were  waiting  for  the  blow.  The  preacher 
paused,  and,  looking  up,  began  to  pray :  '  Oh  Lord, 
spare  these  people,  although  their  sins  be  as  scarlet  and 
as  crimson,  in  the  fountain  that  was  opened  for  sin  and 
uncleanness,  wash  them,  and  make  them  white  as  snow.' 
The  reader  can  well  imagine  how  well  prepared  his  sin- 
stricken  audience  was  to  follow  him  in  his  prayer. 
He  was  a  man  about  six  feet  in  height,  with  a  strong 
body  and  of  vigorous  constitution.  He  was  not  a  man 
to  be  trifled  with.  The  following  anecdote  is  told  of 
him:  "At  a  camp  meeting,  near  Lancaster,  Ohio,  a 
young  man  a  few  feet  in  front  of  the  pulpit  persisted 
in  smoking  a  cigar  just  at  the  opening  of  one  of  the 
public  services.  Mr.  Hoffman  politely  requested  him 
to  desist.  To  this  he  paid  no  attention.  Again  Mr. 
Hoffman  informed  him  that  the  rules  of  the  camp  for- 
bade smoking  inside  the  square,  and  hoped  he  would 
desist.  Still  the  young  man  puffed  away  as  though  he 
had  not  heard  a  single  word  that  was  said  to  him.  This 
was  too  much ;  so  Mr.  Hoffman  seized  the  cigar  with  his 
hand  and  threw  it  violently  on  the  ground  and  rubbed 
it  in  the  dust  with  his  foot.    As  he  did  this  he  ex- 


184  JOSEPH    HOFFMAN, 

claimed  in  a  low  tone :  '  There,  if  you  have  no  sense,  I 
will  teach  j^ou  some.'  The  young  sprig-  eyed  the  stal- 
wart preacher  from  head  to  foot.  His  look  was  met 
by  a  withering  glance  from  Mr,  Hoffman,  and  the 
young  man,  much  disgusted,  retired  from  the  scene." 

He  had  a  high  forehead,  hair  thin,  crown  bald,  and 
one  keen  eye,  the  other  having  been  destroyed  by  the 
stroke  of  a  limb  while  at  work  in  the  forest.  His 
countenance  was  expressive,  and  the  whole  man  seemed 
to  speak  to  you.  He  had  a  strong  voice,  which  without 
being  strained  could  be  heard  a  mile.  His  enunciation 
was  clear  and  full.  His  gestures  easy  and  complete, 
and  without  having  made  a  study  of  the  science  of 
elocution,  he  was  at  times  the  best  of  orators. 

He  was  a  man  of  fine  Christian  experience.  As  a 
man  who  faithf  ull3'^  sought  to  do  his  best  without  caring 
for  the  consequences,  he  was  on  pleasant  terms  with  his 
Maker.  He  talked  with  God  as  friend  talketh  with 
friend.  He  approached  Him  with  implicit  faith  and 
knew  that  all  proper  requests  would  be  granted.  "  A 
few  years  since  he  called  to  see  a  young  minister  who 
was  lying  very  ill  of  fever.  He  had  known  him  from 
a  child  and  loved  him.  He  kneeled  by  his  couch  and 
poured  forth  his  soul  in  his  behalf.  In  meekness  he 
seemed  to  be  a  son  of  the  Lord  telling  him  the  wants 
of  the  Church  and  the  world,  and  that  his  brother 
could  not  be  spared.  The  tone  of  his  voice  and  the 
words  of  his  lips  could  not  but  inspire  all  who  heard 
them  with  faith  that  his  prayer  would  be  answered. 
And  so  it  was ;  the  prayer  of  faith  had  saved  the 
sick." 

After  retiring  from  the  more  active  work  of  the 
ministry,  he  still  preached  wherever  he  had  the  oppor- 


SIXTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.  185 

tunity.  He  was  still  one  of  the  best  counsellors  the 
Church  had.  He  visited  and  preached  on  many  of  the 
charges  in  the  conference. 

He  was  twice  married,  and  was  the  father  of  eleven 
children,  of  whom  there  were  eight  sons  and  three 
daughters.  He  early  taught  his  children  the  Scriptures, 
and  around  the  family  altar  daily  commended  them  to 
God.  As  a  result  of  his  faithful  teaching  and  heavenly 
example,  five  of  these  sons  entered  the  ministry  in  the 
United  Brethren  Chuich.  One  son  and  one  daughter 
are  still  living  at  an  advanced  age. 

"  About  ten  years  before  his  decease  he  delivered  a 
very  effective  sermon  to  the  Miami  conference,  and  an- 
nounced that  he  supposed  it  would  be  his  last ;  and  so 
it  proved.  Still  he  continued  to  preach  occasionally 
till  the  close  of  his  pilgrimage.  He  resided  near  Lew- 
isburg,  Preble  County,  Ohio.  In  the  summer  of  1856, 
Owentown  Chapel,  near  El  Dorado,  had  been  rebuilt, 
and  in  connection  witli  a  dedication  service  a  quarterly 
meeting  was  to  be  held,  beginning  on  the  8th  dav  of 
November,  and  expectation  was  on  tiptoe,  for  it  had 
been  announced  that  Bishop  Hoffman  would  be  there 
and  preach  the  first  sermon.  But  before  he  left  his 
home  that  morning,  without  any  previous  illness,  the 
chariots  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof  came  along, 
and  'the  man  of  God,  like  Elijah,  dropped  the  mantle 
which  he  had  worn  so  long  and  so  worthily,  and 
ascended  the  heights  of  glory." 
"  I  know  it  is  over,  over — 

I  know  it  is  over  at  last ; 
Down  sail,  the  sheathed  anchor  uncover, 

For  the  stress  of  the  voyage  has  passed  ; 
Life,  like  the  tempest  of  ocean 

Hath  outblown  its  ultimate  blast. 


186  JOSEPH    HOFFMAN. 

There's  bvit  a  faint  sobbing  seaward, 
While  the  calm  of  the  tide  deepens  leeward. 
And  behold !  like  the  welcoming  quiver 
Of  heart  pulses,  throbbed  through  the  river 
Those  lights  in  the  harbor  at  last; 
The  heavenly  harbor  at  last." 

Paul  Hamilton  Hayne. 


REV.   HENRY  KUMLER,  SR., 

SEVENTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


HENKY  KUMLEE,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, most  probably  in  Lancaster  County,  Janu- 
ary 3,  1Y75.  His  father's  name  was  Jacob.  Tlie 
father  was  born  in  Switzerland,  in  the  count}^  of  Basel. 
The  D-randfather's  name  was  John  Kumler.  The  fam- 
ily  emigrated  to  America  when  Jacob,  the  father,  was 
about  seven  years  of  age.  He  was  married  to  Eliza- 
beth Young,  daughter  of  John  Young,  in  her  twenty- 
eighth  year.  The  eldest  child  was  named  John,  the 
second,  Jacob,  the  third,  Henry,  the  subject  of  this 
memoir,  the  fourth,  Michael.  There  was  one  daughter 
whose  name  was  Elizabeth.  The  mother,  falling  from 
a  horse,  was  mortally  w^ounded,  and  died  after  six 
months'  suffering.  The  father  remained  a  widower  for 
about  sixteen  months,  and  was  then  married  to  Sophia 
Britenstein.  She  died  leaving  one  daughter,  Catharine, 
who  married  Jacob  Zin.  Henry  moved  from  Lancas- 
ter County  to  Franklin,  about  the  year  1810,  bought  a 
farm,  and  settled  some  four  miles  from  Greencastle, 
Pa.  At  this  time  he  was  a  nominal  member  of  the 
German  Reformed  Church,  but  according  to  his  owm 
judgment  of  himself,  not  very  actively  pious.  When 
about  seventy  seven  years  of  age,  and  about  two  years 
before  his  death,  he  was  induced  to  write  out  for  his  two 
children  such  items  of  interest  in  connection  with  his 
life  as  he  could  remember.     From  this  brief  and  neces- 

187 


188  HENRY   KUMLER,    SK., 

sarily  incomplete  autobiography,  we  make  the  follow- 
ing  extracts : 

"  I  was  about  eight  years  of  age  when  my  mother 
died  ;  and  while  she  lay  afflicted  anu  in  great  distress, 
ministers  would  often  visit  and  speak  to  her  concerning 
the  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ,  instructing  her 
that  a  proper  preparation,  in  time  only,  could  fit  us  for 
the  enjoyment  of  Heaven.  Sometime  after  the  burial 
of  my  mother  I  was  brought  into  great  sorrow,  and 
often  hid  myself  in  some  lonely  spot,  to  weep  and 
pray  in  filial  sympathy.  I  well  remember  to  have  seen 
father  pray  with  tears  ;  this  had  a  powerful  influence 
upon  my  mind,  even  to  conviction.  But  I  grew  up 
wandering  away  from  God,  like  the  prodigal.  Still 
God's  Spirit  did  not  leave  me,  for  I  remember  well, 
when  returning  home  at  night  from  wicked  company, 
that  my  conscience  was  so  smitten,  that  I  knelt  in  a 
field,  praying  to  God  to  have  mercy  upon  me,  and  to 
forgive  my  sins.  But  these  thoughts  soon  vanished 
from  my  mind  again.  As  I  was  returning  from  busi- 
ness on  a  certain  evening,  passing  a  tavern  in  which 
there  was  dancing,  I  entered  and  stayed  some  time. 
Not  long  after  this  I  was  taken  sick,  and  anguish  of 
soul  seized  upon  me.  I  recollect  distinctly  that  I  was 
so  in  trouble  that  I  looked  toward  the  window,  in  the 
night.  I  imagined  I  saw  hell  with  all  its  terrors  open 
before  me.  Just  at  this  time  some  young  relatives 
came  to  visit  me.  I  told  them  that  if  they  ever  saw 
me  in  such  company  again,  they  should  not  permit  me 
to  stay  ;  but  rather  break  my  bones  than  leave  me  in 
such  a  crowd.  When  I  recovered  I  began  to  engage 
in  public  prayer  in  my  father's  house.  But  I  soon 
relapsed  into  sin  again. 


SEVENTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BKETHEEN   IN   CHRIST.      189 

"  In  my  seventeenth  year  I,  Avith  others,  attended 
devotional  meetings  under  a  reformed  instructor.  I 
continued  in  unbelief  until  the  last  day,  upon  which 
the  good  man  prayed  so  heartily  for  us  that  the  tears 
rolled  over  his  face.  I  was  again  convicted,  and  be- 
came so  restless  that  I  could  not  sleep  during  the  whole 
of  the  following  night.  When  we  were  received  as 
members  I  resolved  to  be  faithful  to  God  until  death. 
I  left  home  to  learn  a  trade. 

"  My  master  and  his  wife  were  irreligious,  and 
would  often  frolic  and  dance.  For  ten  or  twelve  even- 
ings I  engaged  in  secret  prayer,  but  my  resolution  soon 
grew  faint.  I  became  more  and  more  careless  until  the 
year  181 1.  When  I  was  in  my  barn  one  day  the  Spirit 
of  God  entered  my  heart.  With  great  astonishment  I 
looked  upon  my  youthful  days,  knowing  that  God  had 
often  called  me,  and  that  I  had  just  as  often  promised 
to  live  for  him.  My  conscience  was  condemned.  With 
tears  and  a  broken  heart  I  cried,  '  O  ni}^  God,  how 
good  Thou  art!  for  in  my  great  distress  and  affliction 
I  might  have  sank  down  to  hel).'  The  compassion  of 
God  filled  me  with  amazement.  Light  sprang  up  m 
my  mind,  I  was  well  convinced  that  this  was  the  last 
call,  as  I  could  have  been  by  an  audible  voice.  If  I 
now  refuse  to  turn,  hell  will  be  my  portion.  '  O  God, 
I  have  frequently  promised  thee,  and  again  violated 
my  promises.'  My  distress  was  great.  I  abandoned 
my  work,  and  sought  some  secret  place,  and  with  a 
condemned  conscience  began  to  pray.  '  O  my  God,  I 
have  often  made  vows  and  never  kept  them ;  this  shall 
be  the  last  one.  Give  me  more  grace  than  I  have  here- 
tofore possessed,  or  I  will  be  forever  lost.'  I  was  now 
determined  not  to  cease  the  struggle  until  I  had  ob- 


190  HENEY    KUMLEKj    SE., 

tained  mercy.  But  Satan  was  also  near.  I  "wished  to 
conceal  myself  in  the  hills  or  mountains,  where  no  one 
could  see  me,  there  to  weep  and  pine  away.  I  passed 
eleven  days  in  this  condition,  and,  as  I  was  alone  m 
the  barn  at  prayer  on  a  certain  evening,  my  heart  was 
so  filled  with  the  love  of  God  that  I  could  no  lono-er 
restrain  myself.  I  ran  to  the  house,  and  spoke  to  my 
wife  of  the  great  necessity  of  our  souls'  salvation.  She 
answered  that  for  some  time  she  had  observed  mv  dis- 
quietude, and  asked  why  I  had  not  long  since  revealed  it 
to  her,  inasmuch  as  I  knew  she  would  not  oppose  a 
good  matter.  This  was  the  evening  on  which  we  had 
family  worship  for  the  first  time.  God  be  praised,  for 
I  believe  that  He  heard  my  prayer  in  behalf  of  myself, 
my  wife  and  my  eleven  children.  May  God  grant  us 
and  our  children  grace,  that  we  may  all  be  enabled  to 
fight  the  f<;,ood  fight  of  faith,  so  that,  when  He  shall 
call  us  home,  I  can  exclaim.  Behold  1  and  the  children 
which  God  hath  given  me !  But  sometimes  I  fear  lest 
the  spirit  of  this  world  should  delude  some  of  {hem. 
*  O  my  Jesus,  visit  them  often  with  Thy  Spirit.' 

"  A  short  time  after  my  conversion,  my  neighbor, 
Michael  Tice  and  I  were  chosen  trustees  to  build  a 
new  church  edifice  in  Greencastle,  Franklin  Co.,  Penn. 
I  had  no  rest  by  day  or  by  night,  until  I  had  visited 
Tice,  and  told  him  what  the  Lord  had  done  for  my 
soul ;  then,  thought  I,  will  he  also  be  converted.  On  a 
certain  evening  I  resolved  to  go  to  him.  It  was  about 
a  mile  and  a  half.  When  I  came  near  the  house,  it 
was  already  night,  the  yard  was  full  of  his  work-hands 
engaged  in  foolish  talk.  This  hurt  my  feelings  so 
much  that  I  could  not  say  a  word  to  him.  I  returned, 
weeping  like  a  child,  that  I  had  not  courage  to  tell  him 
what  God  for  Christ's  sake  had  done  for  me. 


SEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BKETHKEN    IN    CHKIST.      191 

"  A  few  days  I  felt  encouraged  to  try  my  brother- 
in-law,  Jacob  Wengert.  On  a  Sunday  morning  I 
formed  the  resolution  to  go  and  tell  him  what  our  duty 
was.  When  I  was  about  half  way,  Satan  almost  pre- 
vailed on  me  to  go  back.  He  presented  before  my 
mind  Wengert's  wife,  whom  I  knew  from  my  youth 
up.  'She  will  laugh  and  scorn  when  you  come  thus,' 
was  the  language.  I  knelt  and  prayed  to  God  for 
strength.  I  arose,  went  to  the  house,  and  found  him 
alone  in  the  kitchen.  Trembling,  I  began  to  say: 
'  Think  you  not  that  it  is  time  to  begin  another  way  of 
living?'  He  looked  at  me  as  if  I  was  insane.  Having 
thus  stared  at  me  for  awhile,  he  answered  :  '  I  have 
often  thought  about  it,  if  I  knew  that  I  could  hold  to 
it.'  With  tears  and  trembling,  I  said:  'Dear  Lord! 
what  think  you  if  the  night  of  death  should  overtake 
us  ? '  I  went  away  weeping  until  I  reached  the  woods, 
I  then  knelt  again  to  pray  to  God  for  assistance ;  and 
in  the  course  of  a  week  Brother .  Wengert  was  in  great 
distress ;  he  wrestled  with  God  with  much  fervency ; 
the  Lord  heard- his  prayers  and  he  found  mercy.  Then 
we  began  to  have  prayer  meetings  together,  and  in  a 
few  years  we  had  a  class  of  some  thirty  members. 
Before  this,  I  knew  of  no  true  Christian,  save  in 
Hagerstown,  which  was  about  eight  miles  from  here. 
As  I  came  near  my  barn,  one  evening,  when 
returning  from  a  prayer  meeting,  I  saw  an  old 
man  in  my  barn-yard  with  a  low-crowned  hat  on;  my 
heart  was  glad,  for  I  thought  he  was  a  Christian.  But 
in  this  I  was  deceived.  He  informed  me  that  the 
Albright  preachers  had  preached  some  in  his  neighbor- 
hood, and  that  he  went  to  hear  them  once,  and  that 
they  had  bewitched  him ;  that  he  felt  as  if  something 


192  HENKY  KUMLEK,  SR., 

was  crawling  up  his  body,  so  that  he  could  scarcely 
stand  up.  He  said  that  he  then  began  to  think  about 
filthy  things,  and  this  feeling  left  him.  He  resolved 
never  to  hear  them  again  ;  but  his  wife  and  one  of  his 
daughters  resolved  to  go,  and  desired  him  to  accom- 
pany them ;  he  said  he  would  not.  They  insisted  until 
he  promised  to  go.  When  they  came  near  the  house, 
he  tarried  in  the  bushes,  and  let  his  wite  and  daughter 
go  alone  into  the  house.  In  the  bushes  he  prayed  to 
God  to  keep  him  from  that  strange  spirit.  Then,  said 
he,  I  went  in  too,  but  this  time  they  had  no  influence 
over  me,  and  I  could  sit  still.  I  listened  to  the  old  man 
with  amazement,  and  because  he  was  an  old  man,  and  I 
young,  especially  young  in  religious  experience,  I  had 
not  courage  to  tell  him  my  mind. 

"  The  next  day  my  heart  was  sick.  I  told  my  wife 
that  I  was  very  unwell,  and  that  I  was  going  to  be  ill. 
She  said  I  should  go  to  the  doctor  and  get  some  medi- 
cine. I  went  to  Greencastle  and  got  the  medicine,  and 
traveled  nearly  all  the  way,  weeping.  When  I  was 
about  half  way  home,  it  was  spoken  plainly  to  my 
mind  that  I  should  not  get  sick.  '  It  is  your  dis- 
obedience ;  you  do  not  follow  the  Spirit,  or  you  would 
have  told  that  old  man  the  conviction  of  your  mind.' 

'  He  that  is  ashamed  of  me,  of  him  will  I  be  ashamed 
before  my  heavenly  Father.'  M}^  soul  was  still  more 
and  more  oppressed.  I  did  not  take  the  medicine,  but 
I  was  so  distressed  that  I  went  out  into  a  field,  into  a 
deep  cavity,  knelt  down,  weeping  and  praying,  saying : 

'  Oh,  God,  I  thought  I  had  found  grace  in  thy  sight, 
and  behold  I  had  not  the  courage  to  tell  that  old  blind 
man  the  truth,  but  before  this  I  was  not  ashamed  to 
serve  Satan.'     '  You  are  not  as  you  ought  to  be ;  you 


SEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED   BRETHEEN    IN   CHRIST.      193 

are  not  right  before  God,'  was  the  language  of  my 
heart.  O,  how  miserable  I  felt.  I  was  indeed  in  a 
deep  hollow  in  the  field,  but  my  soul  was  also  in  a  hor- 
rible pit,  '  If  you  were  right,  the  Lord  would  have 
heard  your  prayer  two  years  ago  in  behalf  of  your 
children,  and  behold  you  have  not  yet  received  an 
answer.'  O,  how  dreadfully  I  felt,  as  I  lay  thus  alone 
in  the  pit,  in  great  trouble.  I  called  upon  the  Lord, 
and  he  heard  my  cry  in  my  distress ;  he  drew  me  out  of  . 
the  miry  pit  and  placed  my  feet  upon  a  rock.  I  was 
so  overpowered  with  the  spirit  of  God  that  I  cried 
aloud ,  and  could  have  been  heard  at  the  distance  of 
twenty  rods.  I  broke  out  in  these  words,  and  remem- 
ber them  very  distinctly :  '  Well  might  David  exclaim, 
"  for  by  thee  I  have  run  through  a  brook,  and  by  my 
God  I  leaped  over  a  wall." '  Oh,  how  glad  I  was ;  I 
could  rejoice  and  leap  for  joy  the  whole  day  ,  That 
evening  after  supper  we  began  to  sing  and  pray,  and 
before  we  were  through,  Hannah,  Henry  and  Susanna, 
the  three  eldest  of  ni}'  children,  were  brought  into  such 
distress  that  they  began  to  weep  and  pray.  God  be 
praised  for  the  compassion  of  Jesus  Christ.  His  spirit 
was  with  us.  We  continued  in  prayer  until  midnight, 
and  thanks  be  to  God,  I  believe  they  have  not  yet 
become  weary  in  well  doing. 

"  Shortly  after  this,  I  began  to  exhort  in  our  prayer 
meetings.  In  a.  d.  1813,  I  met  for  the  first  time  with 
our  yearly  Conference,  which  convened  in  Hagerstown, 
then  and  there  I  received  license  to  preach.  In  1814, 
the  yearly  conference  met  in  my  house.  During  this 
year  I  frequently  accompanied  John  Schneider  upon  his 
circuit,  also  Henry  Spayth,  Fathers  Meyer,  Crider,  etc. 

In  A.  D.  1815,  I  was  elected  a  delegate  to  our  con- 


194  HENRY   KUMLER,    SR., 

vention,  to  assist  in  framing  the  discipline.  In  this  year 
I  was  appointed  circuit  preacher,  and  placed  upon  a 
ver\^  large  circuit  near  Greencastle ;  Brother  Dehoff  was 
my  colleague.  In  1816, 1  traveled  Virginia  Circuit,  and 
had  to  ride  about  370  miles  every  four  weeks.  All  this 
time  there  were  only  four  traveling  ministers,  and  all 
east  of  the  Allegheny  mountains,  namely:  John 
Schneider,  Dehoff,  Spayth  and  Henry  Kumler ;  Joseph 
Hoffman  was  stationed  in  Baltimore. 

"In  1817  I  was  presiding  elder,  and  had  after 
harvest,  thirteen  Sundays  in  succession,  protracted 
meetings. 

"  In  the  month  of  October,  through  the  influence  of 
a  cold  I  had  taken,  and  excessive  labor  on  the  district, 
I  was  taken  down  with  fever  and  jaundice,  and  con- 
fined for  sixteen  weeks,  so  that  I  f bought  that  my 
earthly  career  must  close.  The  tempter  now  came  and 
thrust  sorely  at  me.  He  showed  me  how  little  good  I 
had  done.  All  my  works  and  all  my  preachings  were 
contaminated  and  full  of  imperfection.  My  soul  and 
and  body  were  in  great  distress,  so  that  my  family 
thought  I  would  die.  They  called  Brother  Newcomer 
out  of  his  bed,  and  just  as  he  entered  the  room,  I 
seemed  to  hear,  as  it  were,  the  voice  of  Christ,  saying 
unto  me  :  '  Poor  creature !  Why  art  thou  looking 
upon  thyself  and  thy  works  ?  Knowest  thou  not,  that 
the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  cleanseth  us 
from  all  sin  ? '  Father  Newcomer  prayed  that  God 
might  spare  me  yet  awhile  for  the  sake  of  the  Church. 
I  stopped  him  in  this  petition,  for  I  had  a  desire  to  de- 
part and  be  with  Christ.  Since  that  time  I  know  what 
it  is  to  be  sa^-ed  by  grace.  God  be  praised,  that  through 
his  mercy,  I  am  still  what  I  am. 


SEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN   IN    CHRIST.         195 

"  I  must  now  refer  to  something  which  I  have  intro- 
duced already.  In  1816,  when  I  traveled  Virginia  Cir- 
cuit, I  do  not  think  that  I  left  home  at  any  time  with- 
out shedding  tears.  For  several  miles  I  sympathized 
with  my  family,  for  my  children  were  yet  young,  and 
had  much  to  attend  to.  And  this  was  not  all ;  for  I 
remember  one  day  when  I  had  twenty-eight  miles  to 
ride  .to  my  appointment,  tears  were  my  company  all  the 
way,  O  my  Jesus,  how  distressed  did  I  feel !  I  thought, 
here  you  ride  about  like  a  fool  —  nobody  is  converted, 
and  3^our  family  needs  you  at  home.  I  was  led  into 
such  distress  that  I  cried,  '  O  God,  if  I  have  gone  forth 
before  I  ought,  do  thou  break  my  bones  that  thou  canst 
make  me  stay  at  home.'  In  the  evening  quite  a  multi- 
tude had  convened  together.  "With  the  help  of  God,  I 
commenced  the  meeting,  read  the  text,  and  began  to 
preach  with  a  heavy  heart,  but  before  I  was  through, 
three  or  four  were  upon  the  floor,  crying  heartily, '  Jesus 
thou  Son  of  God,  have  mercy  upon  us.  Praise  and 
thanks  be  to  God.'  This  was  a  traveling  penny  for  me 
upon  my  journey. 

"  Once  in  the  beginning  of  my  ministry,  I  went  to 
a  protracted  meeting  in  Middletown,  in  the  State  of 
Maryland.  I  put  up  with  Jacob  Baulus,  near  Middle- 
town.  This  was  before  I  had  license,  I  think.  Baulus 
was  this  year  presiding  elder.  He  heard  that  the 
Albrights  frequently  had  meetings  at  my  house,  and  I 
think  he  was  afraid  they  would  catch  me ;  and  when 
we  were  going  towards  Middletown,  where  the  meet- 
ing was,  he  said  to  me :  '  They  are  noisy  stuff,  they 
are  not  right.'  When  the  ministers  had  convened,  he 
said  that  I  should  preach  the  first  sermon.  Feeling 
my  ignorance,  and,  in  view  of  what  lie  liad  said  against 


196  HENRY    KUMLEK,    SR., 

noise,  I  was  under  the  bush ;  I  could  not  say  much. 
After  preaching,  he  divided  the  preachers,  sending 
them  to  three  or  four  places.  '  Geeting,  Felty,  Baulus, 
and  John  Schneider,  remained  in  Middletown,  and 
Kumler  goes  with  me  to  my  house,  for  we  have  meet- 
ing there  this  evening.'  I  said,  send  me  to  some  other 
place,  and  take  some  other  with  you.  He  ordered  me 
to  be  still,  and  said,  I  must  go  home  with  him.  This 
fell  heavily  upon  my  heart.  I  said  nothing,  but 
thought  to  myself,  this  evening  you  will  have  to 
preach,  for  I  won't  do  it.  I  went  home  with  him ;  we 
had  an  early  supper,  and,  as  I  was  afterward  alone  in 
my  room,  he  entered,  and  I  said  to  him  :  '  If  no  other 
preacher  comes,  you  will  have  to  preach  yourself;  I 
will  not  preach  to-night.'  He  looked  at  me,  and  said  : 
'  You  need  not  say  a  word,  you  must  preach  to-night, 
for  I  am  at  home  here,  and  just  like  an  old  bell.'  O, 
how  distressedly  I  felt, 'my  heart  was  filled  with 
sorrow.  I  took  my  book,  climbed  upon  a  hill,  which 
was  covered  with  pine  bushes,  knelt  down,  and  prayed 
to  God  thus  :  '  If  I  must  preach  thy  gospel  tliis  evening, 
then  I  must  have  more  grace.'  I  then  sought  a  text, 
prayed  and  wept  again  before  God,  and  he  strengthened 
my  weak  faith.  Kow  I  had  new  courage,  and  said  to 
myself :  '  Now  I  go  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord ;  the}' 
may  then  say  of  me  what  they  please;  babbler, 
stormer,  or  Pharisee.'  And,  thanks  be  to  God,  before 
I  was  done  preaching,  five  or  six  were  upon  the  fioor, 
crying,  and  making  such  a  confusion,  that  I  could 
scarcely  hear  my  own  words.  I  sat  down  and  thanked 
God  that  he  had  heard  my  poor  prayer.  Then  my 
friend,  Jacob  Baulus,  arose,  and  made  it  hum.  The 
next  morning   I   said   to   him  :     '  Yesterday  you   be- 


SEVENTH   BISHOP    UNITED   BRETHREN   IN   CHRIST.       197 

witched  me  upon  the  way  to  Midclletown  ;  you  talked 
so  hard  against  noise,  and  when  I  was  done  preaching, 
you  arose,  and  got  louder  than  I  did.  After  this  you 
can  not  bewitch  me  any  more.'  He  answered :  '  Oh, 
now  and  then,  it  is  right  enough.' 

"  I  must  now  return  once  more  to  the  time  of  my 
conversion.  In  my  great  distress  I  had  a  peculiar 
dream.  I  dreamt  I  had  the  consumption,  and  was 
getting  weaker  and  weaker  for  two  years,  until  I  saw 
myself  die.  This  mysterious  dream  was  not  interpreted 
unto  me  until  the  expiration  of  two  years;  then  it  was 
clear  to  my  mind.  I  was  raised  in  the  Reformed 
Church,  and  I  think  our  preachers  had  once  experi- 
enced religion,  and  could  preach  the  truth  tolerably 
well.  They  studied,  and  were  received  as  ministers. 
,  When  the  United  Brethren  and  Albright  ministers 
heard  that  I  had  experienced  religion,  they,  came  and 
asked  the  privilege  to  preach  in  my  house.  This  I 
granted  them  when  our  Reformed  ministers  had  no 
appointments  in  Greencastle,  but  when  they  had  ap- 
pointments there  I  did  not  grant  it.  Party  spirit  is  a 
bad  spirit.  It  always  grieved  me  when  people  were 
converted  and  left  our  Church.  But  the  two  years 
grew  shorter;  tlie  consumption  will  soon  terminate  in 
death.  One  Sunday  our  preacher  came  from  Green- 
castle and  preached  a  sermon  for  me.  He  called  those 
people  who  prayed  in  public  Pharisees,  and  that  they 
opened  the  windows  yet,  that  people  could  hear  them. 
He  said  that  Christ  had  said,  '  When  thou  prayest,  go 
into  thy  closet,'  etc.,  and  let  loose  tremendously,  for 
his  gun  was  well  charged.  It  hurt  my  feelings  very 
much.  His  drunken,  card-pla3'ing,  gambling  and  dan- 
cing company  was  very  much  pleased,  and  laughed, 


198  HENRY    KUMLER,  SR., 

looking  at  me.  Just  as  I  went  out,  when  the  congrega- 
tion was  dismissed,  one  hunched  me,  and  asked  if  I 
knew  for  whom  the  sermon  was  preached.  I  made  no 
answer.  I  went  home  with  my  obstinate  consumption, 
wrote  a  long  letter  to  my  preacher,  and  informed 
him  that  I  could  get  no  sense  out  of  his  last  sermon, 
and  that  I  thought  he  knew  the  Scriptures  better  than 
I,  since  I  was  only  an  ignorant  farmer,  and  that  I 
thought  he  had  also  read  where  Christ  commands  that 
we  shall  let  our  light  shine,  and  not  hide  it  under  a 
bushel.  And  David  says:  '  Come  and  hear,  all  ye  that 
fear  the  Lord,  and  I  will  declare  what  He  hath  done 
for  my  soul.'  Stated  that  he,  perhaps,  preached  so 
that  the  Methodists  should  not  find  me ;  but  I  thank 
God  that  I  ever  discovered  the  verse  found  in  the  First 
Epistle  of  John,  chapter  5th,  1st  verse :  '  Every  one 
that  love^  Him  that  begat  loveth  Him  also  that  is 
begotten  by  Him ; '  and  I  thank  God  that  He  has  some 
children  yet  upon  earth  who  desire  to  work  righteous- 
ness. Finally  I  gave  him  a  recipe  how  to  keep  his 
members.  He  should  take  away  every  post  and  prop, 
that  they  can  find  no  rest  until,  like  Mary  Magdalene, 
they  find  it  at  the  feet  of  Jesus ;  that  is  where  I  find 
rest.  When  he  had  read  my  letter,  he  said  to  Jacob  Wen- 
gert,  for  he  brought  it  to  him, '  Tell  Kumler  if  he  thinks 
that  he  can  not  go  to  heaven  without  shoes  and  stock- 
ings, let  him  go.'  But  after  a  little  he  repented  of  this 
language,  and  told  Wengert  that  he  should  tell  me  to 
come  to  him  immediately.  I  did  so.  When  I  came 
there  he  said:  '  Kever  in  your  life  undertake  to  write 
a  letter  to  a  preacher  again.'  '  Why  not? '  said  I.  He 
answered :  '  When  you  only  say  a  thing,  and  find  that 
you  are  cornered,  then  you  can  say,  "  I  did  not  mean 


SEVENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.         199 

SO,"  and  you  can  construe  it  into  another  sliajDe.'  But 
I  answered  him  in  the  language  of  Pilate :  '  "What  I 
have  written  I  have  written.'  .  '  Well,  come  in  and  sit 
down,'  He  drew^  the  letter  out  of  his  pocket,  and  the 
first  question  was,  '  What  do  you  understand  by  the 
word  light  ? '  I  answered,  '  to  let  my  light  shine,  is  to 
show  by  my  life,  before  God  and  man,  that  I  am  deter- 
mined to  lead  another  life.'  He  answered,  '  Oh,  that  is 
all  well  enough.'  '  But,'  said  I,  still  further  '  I  believe 
that  a  man  like  me,  who  has  such  a  large  family,  should 
speak  to,  and  exh-ort  his  family  and  pray  with  them.' 
He  answered  again,  '  that  is  well  enough.'  I  then  pro- 
ceeded and  said,  '  There  is  a  man  living  with  me  in  my 
house,  and  we  have  lived  in  peace  together,  but  not  as 
Christians ;  he  has  now  moved,  and  lives  ten  or  eleven 
miles  from  here,  and  I  had  no  rest  until  I  went  to  him. 
I  stayed  over  night ;  sang  and  prayed  Av^ith  him  in  the 
evening  before  we  went  to  bed,  and  also  in  the  morn- 
ino-  before  I  left.  The  man  broke  out  in  moaning  and 
tears,  crying,  God  have  mercy  on  me  a  sinner.'  He  then 
rolled  my  letter  up  and  put  it  in  his  pocket,  and  said, 
'That  was  all  well  enough.'  'Yes,'  says  I,  'God  be 
praised  I  went  on  my  way  rejoicing,  and  wdiosoever 
will  may  call  it  hypocrisy  and  Pharisaism.  He  said, 
'the  sermon  which  I  preached  last  Sunday  I  should  not 
have  preached,  but  not  less  than  three  came  to  me  and 
said,  you  will  lose  Kumler.'  And  so  it  was  too,  and  my 
consumption  ceased.  And  so  ended  my  connection  with 
that  church, 

"In  A.  D.  1819,  my  family  and  I  emigrated  to 
Ohio,  to  where  I  now  live.  When  I  had  been  here  a 
few  weeks,  I  got  into  great  distress,  I  believed  I  had 
sinned  in  removing,  because  the  society  in  the  town- 


200  HENKY   KUMLEK,    SK., 

ship  where  we  had  lived  was  good,  and  the  neighbors 
which  I  now  had  were  swearers,  dancers  and  frolickers. 
It  vexed  my  heart  very  much,  and  I  remember  well  that 
I  laid  upon  the  ground  and  prayed  for  all  my  neigh- 
bors. Oh,  how  this  satanic  life  vexed  me.  I,  however, 
commenced  preaching  at  different  places,  as  opportu- 
nity offered,  and  God  blessed  his  word  to  the  salvation 
of  souls. 

"  I  will  here  relate  a  circumstance,  as  an  illustration 
of  the  wrong  views  some  entertained  on  the  subject  of 
religion.  One  old  man  by  the  name  of  Good,  who 
attended  my  meetings,  finally  became  much  distressed 
about  his  salvation.  For  almost  one  year,  he  would 
come  to  my  house  to  counsel  with  me.  One  day  he 
came  and  said :  '  Can  a  man  get  religion  and  lose  it 
again  ? '  'Oh,  yes,'  said  I.  '  Then,'  said  he,  '  I  went  to 
bed  last  night  with  a  very  heavy  heart  on  account  of 
my  sins,  and  about  midnight  I  awoke,  and  felt  inex- 
pressibly glad.  I  fell  asleep  again,  and  when  I  awoke 
in  the  morning,  everything  was  gone,  and  I  began  to 
lament.'  I  told  him  to  persevere,  that  better  things 
were  before  him.  Thus  we  went  on  until  after  harvest, 
when  we  had  a  camp  meeting  at  Hetzler's  on  Brown's 
Run ;  there  he  was  blessed.  He  came  to  me  and  said : 
'  I  am  so  overcome  that  it  makes  rae  gasp  for  breath. 
Is  it  so  with  you?'  '  O,  yes,'  said  I,  'just  persevere,  it 
will  be  better  by  and  by.'  '  Then,'  said  he,  '  there  are 
my  boys,  they  must  come  to  the  anxious  bench.'  He 
went  away,  but  came  back  soon,  saying  that  they  had 
got  angry  and  stubborn,  and  would  not  obey  him. 
'But,'  said  he,  'there  is  my  Frederic,  he  must  obey 
rae.'  He  went  to  him,  but  he  refused  and  resisted. 
His  father  said  he  must  come  to  the  mourner's  bench, 


SEVENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.         2Ul 

or  he  would  thrash  him  completely.  The  little  fellow 
went  and  knelt  down  at  the  bench.  The  old  man  then 
came  to  me  and  asked  me  to  go  and  pray  with  him.  I 
told  him  that  he  should  let  him  alone,  that  we  could 
force  no  one  to  be  religious,  that  they  must  be  willing. 
'  Oh,'  said  he,  '  that  is  the  way.'  He  and  his  wife  found 
mercy.  So  also  did  Father  Landis  and  his  wife. 
Father  Clark  and  old  man  Watung  and  his  wife,  and 
many  others.  And  God  be  praised,  this  gladdened  my 
heart." 

When  Kumler  settled  in  Butler  County,  he  built  a 
large  room  adjoining  his  house  at  his  own  expense,  so 
that  the  brethren  should  not  be  without  a  meeting- 
house. Here  a  class  was  formed,  and  the  gospel 
preached  for  many  years,  and  in  this  house  many  were 
born  into  the  kingdom.  One  or  more  sessions  of  the 
Miami  annual  conference  were  also  held  in  this  house. 
He  was  the  father  of  twelve  children  —  seven  sons  and 
five  daughters.  Two  of  his  sons,  Henry  and  Daniel, 
became  ministers,  and  Henry  afterward  became  a 
Bishop.  The  children  were  all  converted,  and  became 
honored  and  useful  members  of  the  Church.  A  family 
of  such  numbers,  piety  and  enterprise,  must  exert  an 
extended  influence  in  favor  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church.  Asa  father,  husband,  neighbor,  citizen,  min- 
ister and  bishop  neither  this  Church  nor  any  other  has 
seen  his  superior.  To  him,  more  than  any  other  man. 
Bishop  Zeller  possibly  excepted,  the  Church  is  indebted 
for  its  early  planting  and  training  in  the  Miami  Valley. 
He  died  Saturday  morning,  January  Tth,  a.  d.  1854 
from  palsy,  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-nine  years 
and  five  days. 

"  In  personal   appearance.  Father  Kumler  was  neat 


202  HENRY  KUMLER,  SR., 

and  comely.  He  was  not  tall,  only  five  feet  and  seven 
inches,  but  was  firmly  built,  with  a  little  tendency  to 
corpulency  ;  weighing  from  one  hundred  and  eighty  to 
one  hundred  and  ninety  pounds ;  erect  in  his  stature 
and  sprightly  in  his  walk.  His  countenance  was  open 
and  pleasant,  denoting  great  cheerfulness  and  much 
thought. 

"  His  mind  was  well  balanced.  He  was  mild  and 
even  in  his  temper,  yet  possessing  sufficient  firmness 
and  energy  to  render  him  prompt  and  thorough-going 
in  all  that  he  undertook.  Yet  he  seemed  to  accom- 
plish his  business  with  ease  to  himself  and  all  con- 
cerned. His  heart  seemed  to  be  a  fountain  of  cheer- 
fulness, his  conversation  was  richly  spiced  with  little 
pleasantries,  so  that  he  was,  in  the  language  of  one 
who  knew  him  well,  a  perfect  pass-away -time  to  all  his 
laboring  or  traveling  companions. 

"His  family  government  was  firm  but  mild,  pro- 
ducing in  his  cnildren  that  fear  that  is  richly  sweet- 
ened with  love.  A  significant  look  or  nod  from  him 
was  often  enough  to  produce  instant  obedience. 
Such  was  the  respect  for  his  authority  by  his  twelve 
children,  that  they  would  at  any  time  possible  have 
come  or  gone  at  his  beck. 

"  His  liberality  was  not  easily  excelled.  He  was 
always  forward  in  giving  for  public  improvement 
whether  in  Church  or  State  ;  and,  yet,  the  fund  was  not 
exhausted ;  he  always  had  wherewith  to  give  again,  and, 
after  all,  enough  to  help  his  children  to  an  abundance. 
To  enable  him  to  give,  he  was  frugal  and  industrious. 
From  small  beginnings  he  was  enabled,  by  the  bless- 
ing of  God,  to  accumulate  thousands,  and  tens  of 
thousands,  to  distribute  among  liis  children  and  others. 


SEVENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST,         203 

Such  was  his  success  in  the  management  of  his  temporal 
business,  that,  during  his  long  life,  he  never  had  a  law- 
suit. 

"  I  was  once  asked,  concerning  him,  how  it  was 
that  he  was  so  prospered  in  all  his  undertakings. 
Does  he  work  so  very  hard  ?  No,  said  the  friend  of 
whom  the  inquiry  was  made.  He  is  quite  a  moderate 
worker,  but  he  ciphers  a  great  deal.  He  planned  well, 
but  this  was  not  the  whole  secret  of  his  success ;  the 
blessing  of  heaven  rested  upon  him.  He  loved  and 
trusted  the  Lord,  and  was  blessed  in  basket  and  in 
store.  He  sowed  bountifully,  and  the  Lord  repaid  him 
again. 

"  His  gifts  and  graces,  as  a  minister  of  Christ,  were 
somewhat  peculiar,  though  not  easily  surpassed.  He 
preached  with  ease  to  himself,  but  with  much  feeling, 
interspersing  his  sermons  with  incidents  that  would 
touch  the  heart  of  the  hearer  almost  before  he  was 
aware  of  it.  His  manner  was  winning  and  affectionate, 
and  his  theme  was  generally  encouragement  to  the 
pious.  His  warm  heart,  affectionate  zeal,  winning 
manner,  and  encouraging  theme,  constituted  his 
strength  as  a  minister.  Although  he  preached  in 
German,  those  who  did  not  understand  his  words, 
would  frequently  feel,  even  to  tears,  under  his  fervid 
discourses." 

In  his  old  days  he  was  persuaded  to  attempt  to 
preach  to  the  people  in  English,  but  one  or  two  efforts 
were  all  he  made.  He  could  not  be  well  understood, 
and  he  labored  at  such  a  disadvantage,  that  he  made 
no  further  efforts  in  that  direction.  One  of  the  fathers, 
who  was  accustomed  to  listen  to  him,  said :  "  He 
preached  with  tears.     Such  love  and  tenderness  as  he 


204  HENKY  KUMLEK,  SB., 

manifested,  I  have  never  known  surpassed.  I  have 
never  heard  him,  without  shedding  tears  myself." 

He  began  to  preach  when  about  thirty- eight  years 
of  age,  in  tlie  year  1813.  Kumler's  house  became 
almost  as  prominent  a  place  for  preaching,  and  for  en- 
tertaining preachers,  as  that  of  Andrew  Zeller.  Fre- 
quent references  are  made  to  it  by  N"ewcomer :  "  Novem- 
ber 4th,  1813,  we  had  meeting  at  Henry  Kumler's." 
"April  11,  1814,  I  preached  at  Henry  Kumler's." 
"  Sunday,  May  22d,  we  had  a  sacramental  meeting  at 
Henry  Kumler's.  We  had  a  good  time ;  several  per- 
sons were  under  deep  conviction,  and  some  obtained 
peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Feb. 
6th.  I  attended  meeting  at  Henry  Kumler's.  14th. 
Twelve  preachers,  six  of  them  United  Brethren  in 
Christ,  and  six  of  the  Albright  Brethren  met  this  day 
at  Henry  Kumler's  to  make  another  attempt  to  unite 
the  two  societies,  but  we  could  not  succeed  in  coming 
to  an  agreement.  The  men  who  composed  this  com- 
mittee on  the  part  of  the  United  Brethren —  Christian 
Newcomer,  J.  Hoffman,  Jacob  Baulus,  Abraham  Mayer, 
Christian  Berger  and  Conrad  Roth." 

."Jan.  7th,  1825.  Came  to  Jacob  Shoubs,  on  Crooked 
Eun,  where  our  General  Conference  is  to  be  held  ;  may 
the  Lord  grant  us  his  assisting  grace.  The  Conference 
continued  until  Friday,  the  10th.  Brother  Kumlerand 
myself  were  elected  Bishops  of  the  Societ}^  for  the  four 
succeeding  years." 

On  the  election  of  Kumler,  Spayth  who  was  pres- 
ent says :  "  That  the  thought  had  never  entered  Kum- 
ler's mind,  and  no  suggestion  of  the  kind  had  been 
made  to  him  by  any  member  of  the  Conference. 
When  the  counting  of  the  ballots  was  commenced,  and 


SEVENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.        205 

his  name  was  announced,  he  covered  his  face  with  his 
hands  and  wept ;  and  when  the  result  was  pronounced, 
he  was  still  weeping  and  trembling  with  emotion.  A 
pause  in  the  business  of  Conference  ensued  ;  heads  were 
bowed,  faces  were  covered,  and,  for  perhaps  ten  min- 
utes, no  one  presumed  to  speak.  He  was  re-elected  in 
1829,  1833,  1837  and  1841,  serving  continuously  for 
twenty  years,  and  retiring  in  18'1:5.  During  the  first 
eight  years  of  his  superintendency,  he  crossed  the  AUe- 
ghanies  on  horse-back,  eighteen  times.  A  day  or  two 
before  Newcomer  died,  Henry  Kumler  reached  his 
home,  and  these  brethren,  upon  whom  had  come  the 
care  and  burden  of  the  Church,  spent  some  very  happy 
hours  in  each  other's  compan}^  When  l^ewcomer  died, 
Kumler  preached  his  funeral,  and  for  the  remaining 
three  years  was  the  only  Bishop  of  the  Church. 


REV.  WILLIAM  BROWN, 
EIGHTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST 


MANY  years  ago  Michael  Brown  emigrated  from 
Alsace  to  Pennsylvania.  He  settled  in  the 
beautiful  valley  of  the  Tulpehocken,  and,  with  his  wife, 
was  among  the  first  fruits  of  the  revival  movement, 
under  the  joint  labors  of  Otter bein  and  Boehm.  In 
1796  a  grandson  of  this  German  emigrant  was 
born  in  Cumberland  County,  Pa.,  in  a  place  re- 
mote from  any  evangelical  church.  In  his  seventh 
year  this  little  boy  stood  by  the  bedside  of  his  dying 
grandfather.  The  aged  patriarch,  surrounded  by  his 
children  and  grandchildren,  talked  and  exhorted  till  the 
place  became  as  the  very  gate  of  heaven  ;  and  as  the 
old  man  died,  his  hand  rested  upon  the  head  of  the 
weeping  grandchild  by  his  side ;  and  from  that  hour 
the  child's  heart  was  drawn  towards  God  and  heaven. 
Often  on  Sunday  mornings  he  would  take  his  Bible, 
retire  to  some  solitary  spot  in  the  hills,  and  spend  hours 
in  reading  ;  and  while  thus  employed  his  face  would  be 
wet  with  tears. 

There  were  ministers  and  church  members  in  the 
neighborhood  where  this  boy's  parents  resided,  but 
they  were  of  the  kind  that  drank  liquor,  led  careless 
lives,  and  knew  little  or  nothing  of  experimental  religion. 
Occasionally,  however,  George  Benedum  and  Abraham 
Mayer  visited  the  Brown  family ;  and  these  visits  were 
as  the  visits  of  angels,  not  only  to  the  parents,  but  to 
the  children,  and  especially'  to  the  boy  whose  heart  had 


200 


WILLIAM    BROWN, 


seemed  to  go  up  to  heaven  with  the  ascending  spirit  of 
his  grandfather.  During  the  Conference  year  which 
included  portions  of  1811  and  1812,  the  devoted  evan- 
gelist, John  Crider,  frequently  visited  the  family,  and 
while  holding  a  class  meeting  at  Mr,  Brown's  house,  he 
went  to  the  youth  already  noticed  and  said  : 

"William,"  for  that  was  his  name,  "do  you  love 
the  Savior  and  pray  to  him  ? " 

"  I  often  try,"  he  said,  "  but  God  will  not  hear  me." 

From  that  time  young  Yf illiam  was  known  publicly 
as  a  seeker  of  religion  ;  and  in  May,  1812,  at  a  big  meet- 
ing at  Abraham  Mayer's  farm,  near  Carlisle,  he  was 
happily  converted,  "  Now  Heaven,"  to  use  his  own 
language,  "  shone  all  around  me,  and  right  through  my 
heart,  I  was  happy  day  and  night  for  m on  tiis.  Often 
after  all  had  retired  at  night,  I  would  walk  out,  look 
up  into  the  starry  heavens,  and  think  of  Jesus  and 
heaven,  until,  before  I  was  aware  of  it,  I  would  be  run- 
ning with  outstretched  arms,  praying  to  Jesus  to  give 
me  wings  to  fly  home  to  glory." 

He  grew  to  manhood,  and  then  came  his  call  to 
preach.  His  license  was  granted  in  1816,  at  a  Confer- 
ence held  at  Daniel  Long's,  Cumberland  County,  Pa. 
William  Brown  became  one  of  the  most  effective  of  the 
early  itinerants  in  the  United  Brethren  Church. 
Bishop  Newcomer  makes  a  number  of  kindly  references 
to  him  in  his  "  Journal." 

"Sunday,  March  3,  1816.  Thursday  we  had  a 
meeting  at  Bro.  Henry  Kumlers.  William  Brown,  a 
young  man,  exhorted  after  me.  14th.  We  had  a  meet- 
ing at  our  house.  Brother  Kuniler  spoke  first;  young 
Brown  exhorted  after  him,  very  feelingly."  During 
the  year  1816,  he  assisted  other  ministers  on  their  fields. 


Rev,  William  Brown. 


EIGHTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN '  CHRIST.  207 

In  1817,  he  was  placed  on  the  Hagerstown  Circuit. 
During  1818  and  1819,  he  traveled  the  Virginia  Circuit 
with  thirty  appointments  and  three  hundred  miles  of 
travel  ever}"^  four  weeks.  Newcomer  writes :  "  Sunday 
February  22, 1818.  This  forenoon  Wm.  Brown  spoke 
first ;  the  grace  of  God  wrought  powerfull3^  May  2, 
1819.  I  preached  in  Shank's  church.  William  Brown 
spoke  also  with  great  power,"  We  find  the  following 
interesting  item  September  27, 1819:  "  Yisited  Bro.  Abra- 
ham Mayer,  who  has  been  sick  for  a  considerable  time. 
Returned  to  Sister  Snyder's  and  married  Rev.  William 
Brown  to  Miss  Sarah  Koch.  February  7, 1820.  Bro.Wm. 
Brown  preached  at  our  house  to-day.  9th.  I  rode  with 
Wm.  Brown  to  Samuel  Huber's.  14th.  I  rode  in  com- 
pany with  Brother  Brown,  across  the  ISTorth  Mountains. 
With  considerable  difficulty  we  reached  Peter  Brown's, 
the  father  of  William,  where  we  stayed  for  the  night. 
17th.  Returned  to  Sister  Snyder's,  where  Bro.  Wm. 
.Brown  has  his  home.  Sunday,  13th.  Brother  Brown  de- 
livered the  first  discourse.  Sunday  31st.  Wm,  Brown 
preached  at  night.  Sunday  15th.  Bro.  Wm.  Brown 
spoke  with  energy,  from  Psalms  45:  5.^' 

"Sunday,  April  22,  1821.  Had  meeting  at  Abr. 
Mayer's.  William  Brown  spoke  first ;  I  followed  him. 
23d.  To-day  we  came  to  Peter  Brown's  (father  of  my 
traveling  companion)  in  Sherman's  Yalley."  He  is  a 
delegate  to  the  General  Conference  which,  that  year, 
met  May  15th  at  Daniel  Mechlin's,  in  Fairfield  County, 
Ohio,  and  seems  to  be  traveling  in  company  with 
Bishop  Kewcomer.  On  their  return  "  Sunday,  June 
24th,  Brown  preached  at  a  Sacramental  meeting  in  Mt. 
Pleasant,  Pa.  Sunday,  15th,  he  and  JSTewcomer  both 
preached  at  Valentine  Doubs." 


208  WILLIAM    BROWN, 

Mrs.  Snyder's,  where  Brown  made  his  home,  seems 
to  have  been  one  of  the  regular  stopping  places  of  New- 
comer, and  he  and  Brown  must  have  had  frequent 
opportunities  for  friendly  conversation  with  each  other. 
December  14th  he  says :  "  This  day  I  rode  in  a  happy 
frame  of  mind  through  wind  and  snow,  from  morning 
till  night,  without  any  refreshment,  and  arrived  at 
Sister  Snyder's,  where  I  stayed  for  the  night."  On  the 
12th  of  April  he  writes :  "  I  rode  w4th  Brothers  Hoffman 
and  ISTeidig  to  Sister  Snyder's ;  here  we  held  a  meeting 
and  stayed  for  the  night.  September  2d.  Left  home  on 
a  journey  to  the  State  of  New  York  ;  rode  to  Valentine 
Doubs,  where  I  was  to  meet  my  traveling  comjyanion, 
William  Brown  ;  here  I  received  the  information  that 
he  was  unable  to  accompany  me,  so  my  journey  was 
prevented  at  this  time.  Sunday,  October  20th.  A 
Sacramental  meeting  is  held  at  Jacob  Thomas'.  William 
Brown  closed  with  a  warm  and  feeling  heart." 

In  1822,  on  Christmas  day,  he  writes :  "  This  morning 
we  had  a  blessed  meeting  before  day.  The  people 
assembled  before  two  o'clock ;  the  meeting  closed  at 
daybreak.  I  preached  in  the  forenoon  and  administered 
the  Sacrament ;  John  Brown  preached  in  the  afternoon, 
and  Wm.  Brown  at  night.  December  23.  A  very  rainy 
day  ;  rode  in  compa,ny  with  Wra.  Brown  to  the  widow 
Bursh's,  where  we  stayed  for  the  night.  On  Sunday, 
September  25,  1824,  I  preached  at  Mr.  Stam's  at  2 
o'clock  ;  Bro.  William  Brown  met  me  here.  We  rode 
together  to  Lancaster,  and  preached  at  night  at  Elliott's 
meeting  house.  Sunday,  26th.  Had  a  blessed  time  in 
love  feast.  William  Brown  spoke  in  the  German  and 
John  Brown  in  the  English  language.  27th.  Came  to 
Littlestown  ;  lodged  with  William  Brown.  February  2d. 


EIGHTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN   CHRIST.  209 

Came  to  Littlestown  and  lodged  with  William  Brown." 
March  31,  1826,  we  find  this  record :  "  I  came  to  the 
house  where  I  have  been  so  often  and  so  kindly  enter- 
tained, where  I  have  always  found  an  agreeable  home 
day  or  night,  but,  alas !  Sister  Snyder  was  no  more  : 
she  had  departed  this  life.  The  home  appeared  no 
longer  the  same.  All  seemed  desolate  and  empty. 
Nov.  24th.  I  set  out  for  Baltimore.  25th.  I  came  to 
this  city  and  lodged  with  William  Brown.  October 
20,  1827.  Reached  Baltimore,  lodged  with  William 
Brown.  Sunday,  August  31,  1828.  Came  to  camp 
meeting  in  Shenandoah  County.  Bro.  William  Brown 
preached  in  the  afternoon.  October  25th.  I  rode  to 
Shippensburg.  A  new  meeting  house  was  dedicated  to 
the  Lord.  Bros.  William  Brown,  Griffith,  and  a  Pres- 
byterian minister  were  present.  Sunday,  26th.  This 
forenoon  Brown  preached  first  in  the  German  language. 
27th.  I  rode  home  with  Brown."  July  24,  1829,  on 
his  return  from  the  West,  he  ssljs  :  "  I  came  to  Bro.  Wm. 
Brown's  and  sta3^ed  for  the  night."  August  26th.  After 
an  interesting  camp  meeting  he  rode  to  Wm.  Brown's 
and  stayed  for  the  night.  In  all  probability  the  last 
time  that  this  venerable  old  bishop  was  at  this  home. 

The  extracts  quoted  go  to  show  that  Bishop  New- 
comer must  have  been  a  valued  friend  and  counselor  to 
young  Brown,  and  that  he  had  his  entire  confidence. 
Brought  in  contact  with  an  earnest,  active,  zealous 
spirit,  as  that  old  father  possessed.  Brown  could  have 
been  nothing  else  than  a  faithful  itinerant  and  an  earn- 
est man.  He  aided  Newcomer  in  manv  of  his  meeting's : 
and  his  home,  after  he  left  Mrs.  Snyder's,  was  a  place 
where  Newcomer  was  especially  delighted  to  come, 
and  where  he  tarried  whenever  circumstances  would 
allow. 


210  WILLIAM    BROWN, 

In  1817,  as  we  have  seen,  he  traveled  ITagerstown 
circuit.  As  a  specimen  of  some  of  the  discomforts  to 
which  these  early  ministers  were  subjected,  a  writer  in 
the  Telescope  for  May,  1858,  gives  the  following: 
"  About  1817,  William  Brown  traveled  our  circuit,  and 
John  Russell  traveled  his  first  round  with  William 
Brown.  In  coming  to  their  appointment  one  cold  day, 
they  had  the  Antietam  Creek  to  cross,  which  ran 
through  my  father's  property.  It  was  so  blocked  up 
with  ice,  that  only  the  channel  was  open.  Brown  suc- 
ceeded in  crossing,  but  Russell  did  not  succeed  until  my 
father  went  to  his  assistance.  They  were  both  very 
cold,  but  after  they  were  refreshed,  the  people  began 
to  gather,  and  we  had  a  good  meeting  that  night." 

The  following  circumstance  is  related  by  Huber  as 
having  occurred  at  a  camp  meeting  in  Virginia,  August 
28,  1828.  He  was  himself  present  and  witnessed  it: 
"Fathers  Kewcomer  and  Geeting,  and  Brothers  W. 
Brown  and  W.  Reinhart,  with  some  other  preachers, 
attended  it,  Newcomer  preached  on  Sunday  morni  ng  to  a 
large  congregation.  When  speaking,  he  wept  like  a 
mother  over  the  corpse  of  her  darling  child;  his  words 
were  attended  with  unusual  power.  Geeting  followed 
with  exhortation.  Newcomer  requested  Brother  Brown 
to  preach  in  the  afternoon.  Brown  hesitated,  saying 
that  he  felt  himself  too  unworthy.  Newcomer  said  to 
him :   '  Take  up  the  cross ;  we  will  pray  for  you.' 

"  When  Brown  had  read  his  text  and  commenced  to 
preach.  Newcomer  prostrated  himself  upon  his  knees, 
behind  Brown  on  the  stand,  and,  with  uplifted  hands, 
prayed  to  God,  for  Christ's  sake,  to  bless  Brother  Brown, 
and  enable  him  to  preach.  The  congregation,  seeing 
Newcomer  in  that  attitude,  were  melted  into,  tears. 


EIGHTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BKETHEEN    IN    CHRIST.  211 

■  At  the  same  time  I  heard  a  roaring-hke  sound  above  me 
among  the  trees.  I  looked  up,  but  saw  no  appearance 
of  wind.  Suddenly  something  came  over  the  people 
like  a  whirlwind.  They  fell  over  from  their  seats  in 
the  altar  and  ou  tside  of  it.  The  cries  of  mourners,  struck 
by  the  power  of  God,  became  so  great  that  Brown's 
voice  could  not  be  heard ;  singing,  prayer,  and 
many  conversions  took  place." 

The  General  Conference  for  1833,  was  held  in  Dres- 
back's  Church,  Pickaway  County,  Ohio,  May  14th. 
William  Brown  was  one  of  the  six  delegates  from  the 
Pennsylvania  Conference.  This  was  one  of  the  most 
important  Conferences  that  had  been  held.  It  defined 
more  definitely  the  power  of  the  General  Conference 
itself;  how  it  should  be  composed  ;  provided  for  secur- 
ing the  salary  of  the  itinerant  preacher;  determined 
how  long  an  itinerant  should  remain  on  a  circuit,  and 
among  the  most  important  of  all,  arranged  for  the 
issuing  of  a  paper  and  the  building  of  a  printing  estab- 
lishment. At  this  Conference,  Henry  Kumler,  Sr., 
Samuel  Heistand  and  William  Brown  were  elected 
Bishops.  In  this  capacity  he  served  the  Church  four 
years,  and  as  an  itinerant  for  twenty-five  years. 

William  Brown  has  a  connection  with  the  temper- 
ance question  which  should  not  be  omitted  from  his 
record.  As  said  elsewhere  he  was  a  member  of  the 
General  Conference  of  1821.  At  that  day  there  was 
not  a  very  strong  sentiment  against  the  moderate  (?) 
use  of  rum.  Some  of  our  own  people  were  deriving 
profit,  either  directl}^  or  indirectly,  from  this  wicked 
business.  They  probably  knew  no  better.  "  It  was 
the  custom  of  the  time,  both  by  church  members  and 
ministers,  to  drink.    The  church  records  of  many  a  New 


212  WILLIAM    BROWN, 

England  ordination  or  installation  service  of  this  period 
show  that  strong  drinks  were  freely  indulged  in  by 
both  clergymen  and  laymen  ;  and  tradition  has  it  that 
the  United  Brethren  were  far  from  free  from  what,  at 
this  day,  is  regarded  by  all  good  Christians  as  both  dis- 
reputable and  wicked,"  Rev.  George  Benedum  intro- 
duced into  the  Conference  a  resolution  to  the  effect 
"  that  no  preacher  shall  be  allowed  to  carry  on  a  dis- 
tillery." E,ev.  William  Brown  moved  to  strike  out  the 
word  preacher,  and  insert  member.  His  good  common 
sense  taught  him  that  what  was  bad  morally  for  a 
preacher  was  bad  for  a  member.  After  some  time 
spent  in  debating  the  matter,  it  was  agreed  to  retain 
both  words.     As  finally  adopted,  it  read : 

"  Resolved,  that  neither  preacher  nor  lay  member 
shall  be  allowed  to  carry  on  a  distillery  ;  and  that  dis- 
tillers be  requested  to  cease  the  business ;  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  General  Conference  be  requested  to  lay  this 
resolution  before  the  several  annual  conferences ;  that 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  preachers  to  labor  against 
the  evils  of  intemperance,  during  the  interval  between 
this  and  the  next  General  Conference,  when  the  subject 
shall  again  be  taken  up  for  further  consideration." 

So  far  as  we  know,  this  is  among  the  first  official 
declarations  made  against  the  rum  business  by  the 
American  Churches.  All  honor  to  the  little  band  of 
German  preachers  who  dared  even  then  to  raise  the 
banner  of  opposition  so  high  ;  a  banner  which  we  are 
glad  to  say  the  Church  has  never  allowed  to  be  lowered, 
and  all  due  honor  to  William  Brown  for  the  part  which 
he  played  in  the  movement. 

While  Brown  himself  knew  something  of  the  hard- 
ships of  a  preacher's  life  and  was  willing  to  endure 


EIGHTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.         213 

them,  he  wanted  the  itinerants  to  be  supported.  Dur- 
ing the  year  184:3,  when  residing  in  Indiana,  one  of  tlie 
local  brethren  had  been  induced  to  go  to  Iowa  as  a  mis- 
sionary, and  give  himself  entirely  to  the  work  if  his 
family  could  be  supported.  The  last  part  of  this  con- 
tract was  not  very  well  kept,  which  called  from  Brown 
the  following  earnest  words  :  "  Our  lay  members  will 
not  do  justice  to  the  brethren  that  labor  in  word  and 
doctrine  ;  the  local  are  to  come  far  and  near  and  spend 
much  precious  time,  say  six  months  in  the  year,  and 
nobody  cares  if  they  have  money  to  pay  their  fare  or 
horse-shoeing ;  as  if  preachers  were  slaves  of  society. 
The  itinerants  are  to  go  all  the  time  and  live  on  the 
wind,  or  nearly  so.  A  church  that  will  not  support  a 
ministry  should  have  none.  If  the  Conference  can  ap- 
point men  in  the  circuits  to  ruin  them  and  their  families, 
then  many  of  our  best  preachers  must  stay  at  home  and 
labor.  Look  at  the  money  subscribed  to  the  Benevolent 
Fund  and  Home  Missions.  Preachers  must  do  most  of 
the  paying  and  preaching  into  the  bargain.  There  are 
so  many  wealthy  members  that  have  no  bowels  of  com- 
passion, no  feeling  for  the  living  or  the  dead,  nor  for 
the  Lord  of  life  and  glory." 

"Wilham  Brown  was  born  July  9, 1796,  and  died  May 
11,  1868,  aged  71  years  10  months  and  2  days.  His 
father,  Peter  Brown,  died  December  2,  1848,  aged  78 
years  6  months  and  17  clays.  As  far  as  we  can  learn 
the  Bishop  had  but  two  children :  Susanna  Matilda,  born 
November  3, 1829,  and  died  December  8, 1831,  while  the 
parents  were  living  in  the  East;  William  Otterbein 
Brown,  the  son,  was  born  Januaiy  21,  1827,  and  died 
February  10,  1879.    The  children,  with  the  parents  and 


214  WILLIAM    BKOWN. 

grandparents,  are  all  buried  in  the  same  graveyard,  near 
the  old  home. 

Peter  Brown,  the  father,  seems  to  have  come  West 
at  a  somewhat  early  day.  In  1834,  when  on  a  visit  to 
his  father,  the  Bishop  entered  a  piece  of  land  in  Benton 
County,  Indiana,  In  1838  he  left  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
and  came  to  Benton  County,  Indiana,  to  reside.  While 
here  he  traveled  several  circuits  and  was  presiding  Elder 
a  portion  of  the  time,  but  during  the  last  year  sustained 
a  local  relation  to  the  Church.  While  he  did  this,  he 
was  preaching  more  or  less  all  the  time.  He  died  of 
congestion  of  the  liver.  There  was  no  funeral  discourse 
preached  at  the  time  of  his  burial,  as  he  always  opposed 
such  services,  believing  this  to  be  improper.  He  did 
not  wish  to  have  any  at  his  own  burial,  and  his  wishes 
were  complied  with. 

One  who  traveled  in  that  section,  while  the  Bishop 
was  yet  living,  says  of  him:  "  1  found  him  a  good  coun- 
selor and  a  good  preacher  for  his  day  and  language. 
I  think  his  early  preaching  was  in  the  German  language. 
At  the  time  I  knew  him  he  was  preaching  but  little, 
yet  he  preached  a  few  times  for  me,  and  his  preaching 
was  always  very  acceptable  to  his  hearers."  One  of  his 
nieces  speaks  of  him  thus.  "  He  was  a  very  tender  and 
affectionate  uncle,  whom  all  dearly  loved.  He  was  up- 
right and  prompt  in  all  his  duties  and  relations  in  the 
Church.  He  preached  in  the  English  and  German  lan- 
guages in  his  own  and  adjoining  neighborhoods.  He 
went  as  far  as  Danville,  Illinois,  to  preach  to  the  Ger- 
mans. During  this  time  he  held  a  local  relation  to  the 
Church.  In  his  old  age  he  went  back  to  Pennsylvania 
and  Maryland,  where  his  family  lived,  and  where  he  had 


EIGHTH    BISHOP    UNITPJU    13RETHKEN    IN    CHKIST.        215 

done  some  of  his  most  effective  preaching.  "When  he 
returned  and  rehearsed  the  glad  meetings  he  had  with 
old  friends,  and  how  heaven  and  earth  seemed  to  meet 
together,  his  great  heart  would  melt  and  his  voice 
choke  for  utterance." 

The  picture  before  us  shows  a  large,  full,  closely 
shaven  face,  and  with  a  very  kindly  expression  in  it. 
His  eye  is  strong  and  piercing.  The  nose  and  mouth 
indicate  strength  of  character  and  force  of  will ;  evi- 
dently a  man  who-does  his  own  thinking  and  has  his 
own  opinions.  He  was  above  medium  size,  rather 
strong  and  vigorous,  and  well  fitted  for  the  burdens  of 
an  itinerant's  life.  He  was  a  man  of  good  native  men- 
tal force,  and  did  much  to  advance  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  not  only  where  he  lived  but  wherever  he  went. 
A  man  of  devoted  piety,  who  lived  an  upright,  consistent 
life. 


REV.  SAMUEL  HEISTAND, 

NINTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST 


QAMUEL  HEISTAND  was  born  in  Page  County, 
lO  Virginia,  March  3d,  A.  D.  1781.  He  was  tlie 
youngest  of  six  sons.  His  parents  belonged  to  the 
Moravian  Church.  His  mother  was  a  native  of  Ger- 
many, and  a  woman  of  more  jthan  ordinary  intelhgence 
and  piety.  Two  of  his  brothers,  Abraham  and  John, 
became  ministers  in  the  United  Brethren  Cliurch. 

Samuel  experienced  religion  when  quite  young,  but 
did  not  live  a  very  consistent  life.  He  came  to  Fair- 
field Count}?^,  Ohio,  as  nearly  as  we  can  ascertain,  about 
1804.  In  1806  he  was  aroused  from  his  backslidden 
state,  under  the  preaching  of  Rev.  George  Benedum. 
He  soon  became  associated  with  Mr.  Benedum  as  a 
pioneer  evangelist  in  Ohio,  and  was  nicknamed  his 
"apprentice."  He  was  mairied  to  Margaret  Raude- 
baugh,  about  1808. 

The  influence  of  Mr.  Benedum  must  have  been  very 
helpful  to  him.  Mr.  Benedum  was  one  of  the  first 
United  Brethren  evangelists  in  Ohio.  He  settled  in 
the  Scioto  Valley,  and  lifted  up  a  standard  around 
which  the  early  settlers  were  induced  to  rally.  He 
helped  to  organize  the  Miami  Conference  in  1810. 
One  who  knew  him  well  says  of  him,  "  as  a  teacher  of 
the  young,  Mr.  Benedum  was  as  mild  and  genial  as  the 
rays  of  a  spring  sun,  yet  he  did  not  lack  firmness;  as  a 

316 


NINTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.         217 

helper  to  young  preachers,  none  surpassed  hhn.  He 
heard  their  prayers  and  discourses  with  tenderness ;  his 
countenance  beamed  with  pleasure  when  he  discovered 
indications  of  talent  and  of  improvement ;  he  was  slow 
to  reprove,  ready  to  encourage,  and  kept  before  their 
minds  the  importance  of  personal  religion  and  depend- 
ence on  God. 

"I  was  present  when  he  formed  the  first  regular 
class  on  Pleasant  Eun  in  1818,  His  invitations  for 
members  so  captivated  the  people  that  they  pressed 
around  him  in  crowds,  giving  him  their  hands,  weeping 
and  shouting.  At  a  camp  meeting  on  Pleasant  Run,  I 
heard  him  preach  a  sermon  before  the  Sacrament,  and 
such  was  the  profundity  of  thought,  such  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  sermon,  that  it  seemed  to  me 
that  heaven  and  earth  were  coming  together." 

Under  the  instruction  of  such  a  man  of  God,  and 
imbibing  his  spirit,  Heistand  became  a  very  efficient 
minister  of  the  gospel.  He  Was  licensed  to  exhort  by 
the  Miami  Conference  in  1819,  and  to  preach  in  1820, 
when  thirty-nine  years  of  age.  We  had  but  few  mem- 
bers in  the  West,  at  that  time,  and  they  were  in  moderate 
circumstances.  There  were  but  few  churches  or  organ- 
ized societies,  hence  he  must  preach  where  he  could 
find  people  to  listen  to  him,  and  with  but  very  meager 
compensation. 

At  a  session  of  the  Muskingum  Conference  held  in 
Mt.  Pleasant,  Pa.,  in  1827,  Avhen  the  traveling  preach- 
ers reported  their  salaries,  it  appeared  that  "S.  C. 
Briggs  received  $50.00,  J.  Wilson  $79.00,  and  John 
Crum  $18.00;  all  were  satisfied." 

Well  may  the  historian  say,  "  By  reference  to  the 
proceedings  of  this  (Scioto)  Conference,  it  will  be  seen 


218  SAMUEL    HEISTAND, 

that  the  highest  salary  received  during  the  last  year,  by 
any  one  man,  did  not  exceed  seventy  dollars,  ^vhile  the 
average  was  about  thirty  apiece.  The  whole  history 
of  the  United  Brethren  Church  shows  conclusively  that 
no  worldly  motive  could  have  induced  men  to  leave 
their  worldly  occupations  to  become  traveling  preachers. 
The  '  woe  is  me,  if  I  preach  not,'  has  reached  the  heart 
of  many  a  pious  3^oung  man,  and  driven  him  from 
friends  and  home  to  hunt  up  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house 
of  Israel ;  without  even  a  staff  to  lean  upon,  save  the 
Savior's  own  blessed  promise, '  Lo,  I  am  with  you  al  way 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.'  " 

Says  Spayth,  "  We  have  stated  that  the  preachers 
were  limited  to  from  $80  to  $160  per  year.  This  is 
to  be  understood  as  the  most  one  might  justly  receive, 
but  how  much  less  than  that  sum,  next  to  nothing,  had 
the  Brethren  preachers  been  subjected  to,  in  the  history 
of  our  Church  for  many  years,  can  not  be  known  at  this 
time.  This  much  we  do  know,  that  brethren  traveled 
and  preached  extensively  for  years,  and  received  less 
than  twenty  dollars  a  year,  and  these  brethren  had 
rising  families,  and  were  by  no  means  in  affluent  circum- 
stances. Not  that  these  men  preached  to  a  poverty- 
stricken  people,  but  the  reverse;  yet  so  it  was,  whether 
through  ignorance  or  conscientious  scruples,  the  preach- 
ers among  the  Germans  received  little  or  nothing.  He 
that  then  would  preach  the  gospel  must  do  it  without 
money  or  price ;  the  harvest  was  great,  the  laborers 
were  few.  Those  were  times  which  tried  men's  faith, 
causing  some  conflicts,  and  placed  the  early  ministers 
very  often  in  straitened  circumstances;  yet  they  were 
enabled  to  say,  'The  Lord  hath  delivered  us  out  of 
them  all'  " 


NINTH    BISHOP   UNITED    BRETHREN    IN   CHRIST.        219 

The  country  was  new  and  unsettled,  and  the  priva- 
tions incident  to  a  pioneer  life  must  be  endured.  As  a 
specimen  of  the  trials  of  these  early  preachers,  we  give 
the  following :  In  1837,  a  preacher  was  sent  to  the 
Juniata  Circuit,  Pa.  This  included  Juniata,  Perry  and 
Mifl9.in  Counties.  His  biographer  says  of  him,  "  Dur- 
ing the  year  he  took  up  a  number  of  new  appointments 
in  remote  portions  of  the  county  inhabited  by  very 
poor  people.  He  visited  among  them  from  house  to 
house,  lodged  with  them  and  shared  their  hospitalities. 
The  best  they  had  was  cheerfully  given  him  ;  but  their 
poverty  was  such  that  even  the  very  best  was  small  in 
quantity  and  very  inferior  in  quality.  For  months  at 
a  time,  he  did  not  see  a  morsel  of  wheat  bread.  Buck- 
wheat, oats  and  corn  constituted  the  food  upon  which 
the  people  among  whom  he  labored,  subsisted.  On  such 
diet  he  could  live  very  comfortably,  and  never  felt  like 
uttering  a  complaint  on  account  of  the  treatment  he 
received,  but  the  utter  impossibility,  at  times,  of  securing 
food  for  his  horse,  was  the  source  of  frequent  and  dis- 
tressing annoyance  to  him.  For  days  and  weeks  did 
the  poor  brute  have  to  go  without  a  handful  of  grain, 
subsisting  wholly  upon  grass,  ha}^  or  fodder.  Often 
would  he  gladly  have  purchased  grain  to  feed  him,  but 
money  was  almost  non-existent  then.  For  months  did 
he  go  without  a  dollar  in  his  pocket.  If  his  horse  lost 
a  shoe,  he  would  stop  at  a  blacksmith  shop,  ask  the 
smith  to  replace  the  shoe,  intending  to  request  him  to 
trust  him  until  he  had  money  enough  to  pay.  But 
when  the  good  smith  replied  in  answer  to  the  question, 
'  I  do  not  charge  ministers,'  after  expressing  many 
thanks,  he  would  mount  his  horse  and  ride  away  with  a 
merry  heart.     Frequently  during  this  year,  he  suffered 


220  SAMUEL   HEISTAND, 

most  severely  with  cold  while  lodging  with  poor  peo- 
ple. One  night  was  especially  remembered  by  him. 
It  was  terribly  cold  and  stormy,  and  the  room  in  which 
he  was  lodged  was  so  open  that  the  wind  whistled 
through  the  cracks  from  all  points  of  the  compass. 
When  shown  to  this  room,  he  found  upon  examination 
that  the  bed  consisted  of  a  chaff  tick  with  but  little 
chaff  in  it,  a  muslin  sheet,  a  threadbare  blanket,  and  a 
light  calico  quilt.  He  piled  his  clothing  upon  this  and 
vainly  tried  to  sleep.  The  wind  savagely  blew,  the  old 
house  shook,  and  he  lay  shivering  with  cold.  About 
midniofht  he  arose,  went  to  the  head  of  the  stairs  and 
called  for  his  cloak  and  saddle  cover,  the  latter  a  large 
bear  skin.  He  placed  the  bear  skin  on  the  bed  to  lie 
upon,  and  his  cloak  over  him,  and  was  then  enabled  to 
sleep  a  little.  Many  nights  were  spent  much  in  the 
same  way.  But  he  cheerfully  bore  all  these  sufferings 
and  privations,  and  often  rejoiced  because  of  being  per- 
mitted to  preach  the  gospel  to  a  poor,  simple-minded 
people,  who  were  so  glad  to  learn  of  him  the  way  of 
life  and  salvation." 

In  1824,  the  Miami  Conference  was  divided,  and 
the  eastern  section  took  the  name  of  Scioto.  Its  first 
session  was  held  in  Fairfield  County,  Ohio,  June,  1825. 
Samuel  Heistand,  living  within  the  bounds  of  this  new 
Conference,  became  a  member  of  it.  On  February  4, 
1826,  a  Charter  was  granted  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio, 
to  incorporate,  "  The  Benevolent  Society  of  the  United 
Brethren  in  Christ,"  and  among  the  incorporators  we 
find  the  name  of  Samuel  Heistand.  The  minutes  of 
the  Scioto  Conference  previous  to  1829  are  lost,  but  at 
the  session  which  convened  May  11,  1829,  we  find 
Samuel  Heistand,  with  several  others,  present.    In  1831 


NINTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.         221 


he  was  sent  to  Adelphos  Circuit.  He  received 
the  largest  salary  paid  this  year  to  any  of  the  preachers, 
which  would  indicate  either  that  he  had  a  wealthy 
field  of  labor,  or  that  he  was  a  faithful  and  most  accept- 
able preacher,  the  latter  of  which  is  most  likely  true. 
In  1832,  himself  and  John  Clymer  are  sent  to  Muskin- 
gum Circuit,  and  receive  jointly  for  their  year  of  service 
1155.80,  In  1833,  he  traveled  Washington  Circuit, 
He  was  a  faithful  itinerant.  One  who  knew  him  well 
said  of  him,  "  He  was  a  man  of  deep  piety,  a  faithful 
and  efiicient  expounder  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  by  no 
means  an  orator,  but  a  close  practical  reasoner.  No 
man  could  be  in  his  company  Avithout  feeling  that  in 
him  were  sweetly  blended  the  true  characteristics  of  a 
friend,  a  Christian  and  a  divine." 

He  was  Secretary  of  the  General  Conference  which 
met  in  1821.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Conference 
which  met  in  1825.  Newcomer  and  Hoffman  were  the 
presiding  Bishops.  Some  important  changes  of  Church 
polity  occurred  at  this  Conference.  Some  modification 
was  made  in  the  mode  of  baptism.  Hitherto  there  had 
been  three  grades  recognized  in  the  ministry.  It  was 
now  decided  that  there  should  be  no  special  ordination 
of  the  Bishops,  and  that  policy  still  prevails.  Hitherto 
the  Presiding  Eldership  had  not  been  looked  upon  as  a 
very  important  office.  Elders  had  been  taken  for  the 
most  part  from  the  local  preachers  and  were  not 
expected  to  travel.  It  was  now  agreed  that  they  should 
give  their  whole  time  to  their  districts,  and  receive  an 
equal  salary  with  the  other  itinerant  preachers.  A  cer- 
tain portion  of  the  salary  of  the  traveling  preacher  was 
set  apart  for  the  support  of  the  Elder.  So  also  it  was 
required  that  hereafter  a  collection  be  lifted  at  each 


222  SAMUEL    HEISTAND, 

appointment,  for  the  support  of  the  Bishop.  He  should 
receive  the  usual  allowance  paid  to  the  traveling 
preacher,  viz. :  $160  to  a  married  man,  and  $80  to  a 
single  man.  Previous  to  this  time  the  Bishops  had  sud- 
ported  themselves  mainly  from  their  own  resources. 
Boehm  was  aided  by  his  farm,  I^ewcomer  had  resources 
of  his  own,  Hoffman  for  the  most  part  depended  on 
his  own  funds.  The  measures  now  adopted  w'ere  a  great 
step  in  advance,  and  made  the  work  more  efficient. 

It  was  also  resolved  at  this  time,  "  that,  if  necessary, 
an  English  as  well  as  a  German  secretary  shall  be  elected 
at  any  annual  Conference."  Thus  far  the  German  has 
been  in  the  ascendant,  but  the  English  is  gradually 
working  its  way  in.  In  1821,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
discipline  should  be  published  in  both  languages,  and  it 
, so  appeared,  the  left  side  of  each  page  having  German 
and  the  right  side  English. 

The  General  Conference  of  1833  convened  in  Picka- 
way County.  It  consisted  of  thirty-three  delegates, 
and  among  them  was  Samuel  Heistand.  At  this  time 
certain  changes  were  made  as  to  the  composition  of  the 
General  Conference;  provision  was  made  for  increas- 
ing the  salary  of  an  itinerant ;  also  the  length  of  time 
he  might  remain  on  a  circuit;  but  the  most  important 
of  all  possibly,  and  that  which  has  most  vitally  affected 
the  Church,  was  the  projecting  of  a  printing  establish- 
ment, and  the  appointment  of  a  board  of  trustees  who 
should  solicit  subscriptions  and  take  steps  to  publish  "  a 
paper  devoted  to  religious,  moral  and  literary  intelli- 
gence." 

The  devoted  l^ewcomer  having  died  after  a  long  and 
eventful  career,  leaving  Henry  Kumler,  Sr.,  the  only 
Bishop  at  this    Conference,    Henry   Kumler,  William 


NINTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.         223 

Brown  and  Samuel  Heistand  were  elected  Bishops  for 
the  ensuing  four  years.  Heistand  was  now  about  fifty- 
two  years  of  age. 

At  the  Conference  of  1837,  he  was  re-elected  to  the 
office  of  Bishop,  in  connection  with  Henr3^Kumler  and 
Jacob  Erb.  The  Conference  convened  at  Germantown, 
May  9th.  Heistand  delivered  the  opening  sermon, 
which  we  were  told  was  very  touching,  made  so  per- 
haps because  it  came  from  a  man  who  stood  on  the  very 
verge  of  the  unknown  future.  This  was  perhaps  one 
among  the  most  important  Conferences  held,  as  it  led 
to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Church.  The 
paper  presented  was  approved,  and  ordered  published 
with  a  circular  letter  calling  the  attention  of  the  Church 
to  the  same,  and  asking  that  the  delegates  to  the  Con- 
ference of  ISil  be  instructed  to  adopt,  amend,  or  reject 
the  same. 

Soon  after  this  Bishop  Heistand  was  holding  a  Con- 
ference in  Pennsylvania.  One  who  met  him  there  sa^'s 
of  him :  "He  had  the  appearance  of  a  very  good  man. 
He  was  well  read,  especially  in  the  Scriptures,  and  a 
speaker  of  marked  intellectual  and  emotional  powers. 
At  the  close  of  the  session  he  addressed  the  Conference 
as  if  conscious  that  it  was  his  d3ang  address ;  which  it 
really  was,  for  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus  soon  after.  Tears 
flowed  down  his  cheeks  while  he  spoke,  and  both  the 
manner  and  matter  of  his  remarks  were  well  calculated 
to  make  a  deep  impression  upon  the  minds  of  the  body 
addressed;  and  this  they  certainly  did.  One  point  upon 
which  he  dwelt  with  much  emphasis  and  apparent  anx- 
iety, and  against  which  he  warned  the  Conference,  was 
that  of  giving  the  Bishops  too  much  power.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  aged  father  saw  danger  in  that  direction." 


224  SAMUEL    HEISTAND, 

He  took  an  active  part  in  the  labors  and  business  of 
the  Church  until  his  death,  as  the  records  of  the  Annual 
and  General  Conferences  will  show.  He  labored  with 
Kumler,  Erb,  Coons,  Hanby^  Russell,  Benedum,  Hoffman 
and  men  of  that  class,  and  did  faithful  service.  As 
shown  before,  he  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
Benevolent  Society  and  was  always  interested  in  its 
prosperity.  He  was  a  faithful  friend  to  the  missionary 
work  and  to  the  religious  press,  and  a  lover  of  the 
Church  of  his  choice.  He  was  a  man  a  little  above 
medium  size,  well  built,  and  weighed  at  times  as  much 
as  two  hundred  pounds.  He  was  a  very  moderate 
English  scholar,  but  well  read  in  the  German,  his  native 
language.  He  was  a  man  of  good  social  qualities,  and 
noted  for  his  generous  hospitality,  no  one  ever  going 
away  hungry  from  his  door.  Pie  died  in  Fairfield  County, 
Ohio,  October  9,  1838.  His  age  was  fifty-six  years 
seven  months  and  six  days.  "  Until  a  short  time  prior 
to  his  death  he  retained  his  wonted  vigor  and  strength 
of  mind.  In  conversation  with  his  brother  Joseph  four 
days  previous  to  his  departure  he  said  he  had  during  the 
day  '  felt  the  sweet  drawings  of  heaven  more  power- 
fully than  ever  before ; '  and  after  his  speech  had  failed 
him,  the  name  '  heaven '  pronounced  in  his  hearing 
would  cause  his  face  to  be  lit  up  with  a  smile." 

He  had  a  natural  impediment  in  his  speech  which 
was  shghtly  in  his  way  until  he  became  thoroughly 
aroused,  and  then  he  became  eloquent.  He  was  a  faith- 
ful preacher  of  the  Word. 

At  a  camp-meeting  held  near  Lancaster,  Fairfield 
County,  Ohio,  he,  with  Ilanb}'^  and  a  number  of  other 
preachers,  was  in  the  stand.  It  was  his  turn  to  preach, 
and  he  spoke  from  Daniel,  "  They  that  be  wise  shall 


NINTH   BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.         225 

shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament."  He  was  in 
good  trim  for  preaching,  and  a  wonderful  power 
appeared  to  accompany  the  word.  There  seemed  to  be 
a  sound  all  over  the  camp-ground,  like  the  "  rushing  of 
a  mighty  wind,^'  as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  Hanby 
arose  to  exhort,  stood  a  moment  without  saying  a  word, 
and  was  then  so  overcome  that  he  knelt  down  at  Bishop 
Ileistand's  knees.  Another  one  arose  to  speak,  but  he 
also  took  his  seat  without  saying  anything.  God  was 
present  in  His  word  and  honored  the  labors  of  His 
servant. 

So  lived  and  died  this  faithful  servant  of  God.  If 
he  did  not  have  time  for  the  accumulation  of  worldly 
riches,  he  laid  up  for  himself  treasures  in  heaven.  After 
almost  twenty  years  of  ministerial  service,  he  was  called 
to  receive  the  reward  of  his  labors. 

"  Servant  of  God,  well  done  ; 
Rest  from  thy  loved  employ  ; 
The  battle  foaght,  the  victory  won, 
Enter  thy  Master's  joy. 

•'  The  pains  of  death  are  passed, 
Labor  and  sorrow  cease, 
And  life's  long  warfare  closed  at  last. 
His  soul  is  found  in  peace. 

"  Soldier  of  Christ,  well  done. 
Praise  be  thy  new  employ ; 
And  while  eternal  ages  run 
Rest  in  thy  Savior's  joy." 


REV.  JACOB  ERB, 

TENTH  B18H0P0FTHE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


JACOB  ERB  was  born  two  miles  southeast  of  Man- 
heim,  Lancaster  County,  Penn.,  on  the  25th  day 
of  May,  A.  D.  1804.  He  died  at  Shiremanstown, 
Cumberland  County,  Penn.,  April  29,  3  883,  aged 
seventy-eight  years  eleven  months  and  four  days. 
His  grandfather.  Christian  Erb,  was  born  in  Switzer- 
land in  A,  D.  1736,  and  when  only  three  years  of  age 
was  brought  to  this  country.  His  father  was  also 
named  Christian,  and  was  born  in  Lancaster  County,  in 
A.  D.  1758.  His  maternal  grandfather  was  Abraham 
Hershey,  who  emigrated  from  Switzerland  to  America 
in  A.  D.  1759.  His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Eliza- 
beth, a  sister  to  Christian  and  Abraham  Hershey,  early 
preachers  in  the  United  Brethren  Church. 

In  A.  D.  1810,  when  Jacob  was  six  years  of  age, 
his  parents  moved  from  Lancaster  County,  to  Cumber- 
land County,  Penn.,  and  settled  on  a  tract  of  land 
on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  opposite  Harris- 
burg.  On  that  farm  his  father  died  in  1820.  After  the 
death  of  the  father,  the  family  removed  from  the  farm 
to  Wormleysburgh,  where  the  mother  resided  until  the 
time  of  her  death,  which  occurred  when  she  was  eighty- 
five  years  of  age. 

Before  and  after  the  father's  death  his  home  was  a 
regular  preaching  place  for  the  United  Brethren.   When 

226 


Jau^  ^ 


TENTH    BISHOP   UNITED   BKETHREN   IN   CHRIST.        227 

Jacob  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  was  converted  at  his 
own  home  in  the  month  of  January,  1S20,  and  joined 
the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ.  After 
his  father's  death  he  lived  with  his  mother  during  the 
winter,  and  in  tlie  summer  labored  on  a  farm  of  his 
brother-in-law,  Samuel  Eberl}^  near  Shiremanstown, 
Penn.  The  year  after  his  conversion  he  began  to 
exhort  the  people  to  attain  to  an  experimental  knowl- 
edge of  saving  grace.  On  being  urged  by  Father  Her- 
shey  and  by  Neidig  to  enter  the  active  ministry,  after 
mature  thought  and  prayer  he  consented  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hagerstown  Conference, 
which  met  at  the  home  of  John  Cronise,  Frederick 
County,  Md.,  May  3,  A.  D.  1823.  He  was  then  about 
nineteen  years  of  age,  and  had  been  a  member  of 
the  Church  for  three  years.  He  was  appointed  to  Lan- 
caster Circuit,  which  then  embraced  thirty  appoint- 
ments ;  in  his  zeal  to  spread  the  work  he  soon  enlarged 
it  to  forty  appointments.  In  1824,  he  was  appointed  to 
Hagerstown  Circuit  as  junior  preacher  with  Henry 
Burtner.  May  10,  1825,  he  was  again  sent  to  Lancas- 
ter Circuit,  and  opened  a  mission  toward  Philadelphia. 

During  this  time  he  also  made  a  trip  to  Rochester, 
K.  Y.,  and  Camden,  in  company  with  Christian 
Smith.  He  was  ordained  to  the  office  of  Elder  at 
Chambersburg,  Franklin  County,  Penn.,  ]N"ovember  17, 
1825.  The  field  did  not  look  so  discouraging  to 
him  as  to  some  of  his  predecessors,  and  yet  to  be  a 
minister  in  his  time  was  no  child's  play.  One  of  his 
contemporaries  gives  us  a  brief  picture  of  the  work  of 
the  ministry  about  the  time  that  Erb  began  it: 

"  In  those  days  our  services  were  held  in  private 
houses,  barns  and  groves.     I  do  not  recollect  that  there 


228  JACOB   EEB, 

was  one  meeting-house  in  Cumberland  Yalley,  except 
at  Shropp's.  The  circuits  were  large  and  our  members 
but  sparsely  settled  throughout  the  country.  Our  cir- 
cuit embraced  part  of  Frederick  and  Washington  Coun- 
ties in  Maryland,  and  part  of  Franklin  County,  Penn., 
and  had  no  less  than  thirty  appointments.  It  re- 
quired four  weeks  to  make  the  round.  At  this  time 
all  east  of  the  Susquehanna  River  was  called  the  Lan- 
caster Circuit.  The  preachers  often  had  very  long  rides 
to  reach  their  appointments,  and  often  through  very 
inclement  weather,  but  they  seldom  disappointed  unless 
they  were  sick.  It  was  common  for  our  people  to  go 
twenty  or  thirty  miles  to  a  protracted  meeting,  and 
many  would  walk  this  distance.  At  these  meetings 
the  beds  were  spread  upon  the  floor  and  the  people 
were  quartered  around  the  room. 

"  The  preachers  had  but  little  time  to  read ;  some  got 
but  little,  others  no  pay.  I  remember  hearing  one  say, 
who  is  yet  living  (this  was  in  1858),  that  he  was 
out  of  pocket  for  his  preaching  nine  hundred  dollars. 
I  heard  George  Geeting  (son  of  the  Bishop)  tell  my 
parents,  with  tears,  that  he  was  traveling  his  first  round 
on  his  circuit  when  he  heard  of  his  father's  death.  He 
said  he  never  was  more  anxious  to  see  him  than  at  that 
time,  but  of  that  pleasure  he  was  deprived ;  but 
although  it  was  a  trial,  he  was  submissive  to  the  will  of 
God  and  received  the  descending  mantle  of  his  sainted 
father 

"  These  were  good  men,  pure  in  life  and  adorned 
with  virtue.  They  were  plain  in  language,  relying  upon 
the  divine  energy  granted  them.  They  did  not  pre- 
tend to  refinement  of  composition,  but  relied  upon  the 
divine  spirit  working  with  them,  and,  like  the  fishermen 


TENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BEETHBEN    IN    CHKIST.        229 

of  Galilee,  they  boldly  proclaimed  a  risen  Savior  to  a 
fallen  world.  They  bestowed  but  little  care  upon  the 
study  of  style,  and  it  was  no  doubt  because  they  were 
aided  by  a  co-operation  greater  than  that  of  man.  God 
was  with  these  men,  and  they  were  instrumental  in  the 
conversion  of  many  precious  souls.  I  have  often  heard 
them  preach  at  camp-meetings  with  so  much  power, 
that  proud  philosophy  gave  way  and  sinners  were  cut 
to  the  heart  all  over  the  camp.  Some  would  fall  like 
dead  men ;  others  would  call  aloud  for  mercy,  and  often 
the  altar  was  crowded  with  penitent  sinners." 

As  a  minister,  Erb  labored  extensively  in  his  native 
State,  in  New  York  and  in  Canada,  as  early  as  A.  D. 
1825,  w^hen  only  twenty-one  years  of  age.  He  was  in 
Rochester  on  the  25th  of  October,  1825,  when  the  water 
was  first  let  into  the  Erie  Canal.  "When  young  he  was 
sent  by  his  Conference  as  a  missionary  to  Canada. 
Alone,  with  his  knapsack  on  his  back,  he  journeyed  on 
foot,  like  his  Master  before  him,  going  from  place  to 
place,  talking  with  the  people  and  preaching  to  ihem  as 
he  had  opportunity,  seeking  in  every  way  to  lead  them 
to  Christ.  Years  after  this,  when,  as  Bishop,  he  was 
holding  a  session  of  Scioto  Conference,  he  had  occasion 
to  refer  to  this  experience.  In  order  to  provide  for  the 
preachers  when  they '  became  unfit  for  travel,  it  had 
been  arranged  that  each  preacher  on  joining  Confer- 
ence, should  be  asked  to  give  his  note  for  ten  dollars, 
the  payment  of  the  interest  on  which  amount  should 
entitle  to  membership  in  the  society.  At  one  of  the 
Bishops'  Conferences  an  opportunity  had  been  given, 
but  the  preachers,  anticipating,  perhaps,  that  small  sal- 
aries would  come  to  them  during  the  year,  were  not  in 
a  very  great  hurry  to  give  their  notes.     Erb,  who  was 


230  JACOB    ERB, 

in  the  chair,  saw  something  must  be  done  to  arouse  the 
newly  admitted  brethren  to  a  sense  of  tlieir  duty.  He 
arose,  and  in  substance  said:  "Brethren,  a  few  years 
ago,  I  was  a  missionary  in  Canada.  I  was  travehng 
along  the  road  one  day  on  foot,  with  my  knapsack  on 
my  back,  thinking  of  the  friends  I  had  left  behind  me 
in  the  States,  and  fearing  1  was  not  doing  much  good 
here,  when  on  making  a  turn  in  the  road,  /  saw  the 
Devil.  He  addressed  me  and  said,  'Erb,  you  are 
making  a  great  fool  of  yourself.'  I  answered  'Not 
so.'  He  insisted  that  I  was,  and  I  inquired  why  he  so 
thought.  He  replied  '  You  might  have  had  a  pleasant 
time  at  home  among  your  friends  if  you  had  remained 
there,  but  you  have  come  over  here,  and  you  are  travel- 
ing up  and  down  these  valleys  with  no  pay,  no  means  of 
support,  no  one  caring  for  you.  If  you  are  able  to 
endure  it  for  a  few  years,  you  will  become  old  and 
crippled  and  poor,  and  you  can  then  go  home  and  live 
for  a  time  in  poverty  and  die  in  disgrace.'  "  Said  Erb, 
"  I  then  became  a  little  excited  and  told  the  Devil  he 
lied ;  that  the  preachers  had  organized  a  benevolent 
society,  and  that  the  interest  of  the  money  they  paid 
was  to  aid  needy  preachers,  and  that  when  I  reached 
old  age,  if  I  had  nothing  of  my  own,  I  would  be  cared 
for  by  my  brethren  Brethren*  I  want  you  to  make 
good  my  statements  to  the  Devil."  It  is  needless  to 
say  that,  after  such  a  realistic  address  as  that,  they 
responded  freely  with  their  notes. 

Erb  was  not  only  a  fair  preacher,  but  his  plain,  prac- 
tical German  sense  made  him  a  good  organizer,  and  for 
his  skill  in  this  direction  the  Church  is  very  much 
indebted  to  him.  East  of  the  Susquehanna  River  other 
men  had  labored  before  him,  but  to  his  executive  ability 


TENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.        231 

the  United  Brethren  Church  as  a  denomination  owes 
its  first  definite  organization.  In  1823,  he  preached  on 
the  Lancaster  Circuit.  It  extended  from  Harrisburg  to 
Lancaster,  out  to  Turkej^  Hill,  thence  to  Columbia^  to 
Marietta,  Maytown,  Middletown  and  Highspire,  thence 
to  Hummelstown,  Union  "Water  Works,  Annville,  Leba- 
non, Shaeftown,  Ephrata,  Manheim  and  Litz.  All  over 
this  field  were  members  who  were  recognized  as  such, 
but  they  were  not  formed  into  classes  and  enrolled  in 
a  formal  manner.  Mr.  Erb  then  regarded  this  as  a 
great  mistake,  but  their  minds  had  to  be  prepared  for 
the  important  step  to  be  taken,  in  formally  organizing 
by  reception  and  enrollment.  After  the  lapse  of  sev- 
eral years  it  appeared  to  him  that  the  proper  time  had 
come.  It  was  during  the  year  1827  that  he  formed 
the  first  class  of  church  members  in  the  United  Breth- 
ren Church  east  of  the  Susquehanna  River.  Classes 
had  been  formed  west  of  the  river  before  this  date. 
This  organization  took  place  at  what  is  called  Sherk's 
old  meeting-house,  located  in  the  northwestern  part  of 
Lebanon  County,  several  miles  east  of  Grantville. 

In  the  year  1830,  when  he  preached  on  Halifax  Cir- 
cuit, he  baptized,  by  immersion.  Elder  John  Wine- 
brenner  in  the  Susquehanna  Eiver  at  Harrisburg,  Penn. 
Erb  and  Winebrenner  had  often  held  revival  meetings 
together,  and  when  the  latter  changed  his  views  on 
church  matters,  he  preached  what  is  generally  known 
in  that  country  as  the  "  1830  Sermon  on  Baptism." 
Immediately  after  the  delivery  of  the  sermon,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  the  river,  and  Mr.  Erb  baptized  him  just 
above  the  place  where  the  Cumberland  Valley  Hailroad 
bridge  is  now  located.  This  occurred  on  Sabbath.  July 
4,  A.  D.  1830,  about  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 


232  JACOB    ERB, 

In  1829,  when  twenty -four  years  of  age,  Erb  was  a 
delegate  to  the  General  Conference,  when  Christian 
Newcomer  and  Henry  Kumler,  Sr.,  were  Bishops.  It 
met  in  Fairfield  County,  Ohio.  With  William  Brown, 
Henry  Burtner,  John  Hendricks,  Thomas  Miller,  John 
Zahn,  Simon  Dresbach  and  Ezekiel  Boriug  he  came  to 
Ohio,  to  represent  the  old  Hagerstown  Conference, 
when  but  four  Conferences  composed  the  whole  Church. 
He  was  the  last  to  die  of  the  twenty-eight  members 
who  composed  that  body.  He  was  also  a  member  of 
the  General  Conference  which  convened  in  Pickaway 
County,  Ohio.  Since  the  previous  one,  I^ewcomer  had 
gone  to  rest.  At  this  Conference  steps  were  taken  to 
publish  a  paper  under  the  direction  of  the  General  Con- 
ference as  soon  as  a  sufficient  number  of  subscribers 
could  be  secured.  George  Dresl)ach,  Jonathan  Dres- 
bach and  John  Russel  were  appointed  trustees  to  carry 
into  effect  the  intention  of  the  Conference.  The  first 
paper  was  issued  about  January  1,  1835.  In  1837, 
Jacob  Erb  was  elected  one  of  the  Bishops  of  the  Church. 
With  him  were  associated  Samuel  Heistand  and  Henry 
Kumler,  Sr.  In  1841,  he  was  reelected  to  the  Bishop's 
office  and  associated  with  Henry  Kumler,  Sr.,  John 
Coons  and  Henry  Kumler,  Jr.  In  1845,  he  was  elected 
the  editor  of  the  German  paper,  The  Busy  Martha. 
In  1849,  he  was  again  elected  to  the  office  of  Bishop, 
and  associated  in  this  office  with  J.  J.  Glossbrenner  and 
David  Edwards.  For  the  period  of  twelve  years  he 
filled  acceptably  the  oiSce  of  Bishop  in  this  Church. 

In  the  year  1840,  John  Russel,  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  active  men  in  the  Church,  and  who  was 
then  residing  in  Baltimore,  was  encouraged  by  his 
friends  to  establish  a  German  paper  in  the  city,  in  the 


TENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.         233 

Interests  of  the  Church.  It  was  to  be  a  semi-monthly 
sheet  with  the  title  of  Busy  Martha.  The  first  num- 
ber appeared  March  7,  1840.  About  May  20,  1841, 
for  some  reason,  it  was  temporarily  suspended.  The 
General  Conference  resolved  this  year  to  establish  a 
German  paper  in  Baltimore,  and  appointed  trustees  to 
carry  out  this  purpose.  Bishop  Erb  was  elected  editor 
and  publisher.  The  Busy  Martha  was  thereupon 
transferred  to  the  Church  authorities.  The  first  num- 
ber under  the  new  management  was  issued  July  1, 
1841,  under  what  were  supposed  to  be  very  favorable 
auspices.  It  was  discontinued  for  lack  of  patronage 
June  22,  1842,  much  to  the  regret  of  the  English  as 
well  as  the  German  brethren,  many  of  whom  had  con- 
tributed to  its  support.  The  closing  words  of  the  editor 
are  very  matter-of-fact,  and  at  this  late  day  almost  pro- 
voke a  smile.  "  With  pain  I  am  compelled  to  notifiy 
the  readers  of  the  Busy  Martha  that  I  have  no  pros- 
pects which  would  justify  me  in  continuing  its  further 
publication  in  this  place;  for  it  appears  to  me  as  if 
almost  everything  that  could  be  a  hindrance  has  been 
raised  to  prevent  the  publication  of  a  third  volume  of 
the  Busy  Martha.  (1)  It  appears  to  me  that  the  trus- 
tees who  were  elected  by  the  General  Conference  care 
nothing  about  the  matter.  (2)  The  printer  is  not  dis- 
posed to  print  the  Martha  any  longer.  (3)  A  consid- 
erable number  of  subscribers  have  not  paid  for  the  sec- 
ond volume,  which  in  justice  should  have  been  done,"  etc. 
In  1831,  he  traveled  Littlestown  Circuit  The  suc- 
ceeding year  he  spent  in  general  work,  and  with  Bishop 
Brown  compiled  the  English  Hymn  Book.  For  the 
•next  three  years  he  was  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Carlisle 
district,  and  during  this  time  made  a  visit  to  Canada. 


234  JACOB    ERB, 

In  1836,  he  was  sent  to  the  Canada  Mission.  During 
this  year  he  was  married  to  EKzabeth  Shirk,  of  Erie 
County,  New  York.  He  was  made  pastor  of  the 
Church  in  Baltimore,  and  was  the  pastor  when  an  effort 
was  made  to  wrest  the  property  from  the  Church.  In 
1854  and  the  following  year  he  was  Presiding  Elder  in 
the  Chambersburg-  district.  In  1856,  he  was  appointed 
agent  to  collect  money  for  Philadelphia  Circuit.  The 
next  year  he  was  again  Presiding  Elder  for  the  Cham- 
bersburg district.  In  1858,  the  Board  of  Missions  put 
him  in  charge  of  the  Canada  Mission  Conference.  He 
was  continued  the  next  year  in  charge  of  this  Confer- 
ence, and  appointed  agent  for  the  printing  establish- 
ment. The  two  following  years  (1860  and  1861),  he 
labored  in  this  interest  and  that  of  Otterbein  Univer- 
sity. In  1869  he  was  engaged  in  the  erection  of  the 
Boas  Street  Church  edifice  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.  His 
more  active  work  ceased  with  this,  but  he  never 
considered  himself  as  local.  He  served  as  pastor  twen- 
ty-two years,  as  Presiding  Elder  seven  years,  as  Bishop 
twelve  years,  as  agent  three  years.  During  the  last 
sixteen  years  of  his  life  he  was  not  able  for  regular 
Avork;  yet  always  ready  to  assist  by  preaching,  by 
counseling,  and  in  whatever  way  he  could  when  his 
health  permitted. 

The  trouble  with  the  Otterbein  Church  at  Baltimore 
was  a  serious  one.  Brother  Erb  himself  puts  it  thus  in 
a  communication  to  the  Telescope  of  January  7,  1846: 
'"  The  members  of  this  church,  with  myself,  are  still 
engaged  in  opposing  a  set  of  men  who  pretend  to  be  its 
officers,  and  as  we  expelled  one  of  these  pretenders 
under  a  charge  of  adultery,  or  for  having  two  wives, 
and  another  for  untruth,  and  others  for  creating  disor- 


TENTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BRETHREN   IN   CHRIST.        235 

der  in  the  church,  and  as  others  had  previously  sent  us 
written  resignations  of  their  offices  in  the  church,  we 
have  no  notion  of  giving  up  the  contest,  but  feel  confi- 
dent that  tlie  Lord  will  not  permit  or  suffer  the  enemy 
to  triumph  over  His  people  for  coming  up  to  the  require- 
ments of  Scripture."  If  the  Bishop  were  to  re-write 
that  to-day,  he  might  make  it  a  little  more  tender,  and 
yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  during  the  years  he  was  in 
charge  here,  he  was  very  much  harassed  and  anno3'ed 
by  mischievous  men.  These  men,  aided  by  sympathiz- 
ers in  the  German  Keformed  Church,  locked  the  church 
against  Bishop  Erb,  on  October  5,  1842,  and  said  he 
should  never  preach  in  it  again.  They  instituted  suit 
against  Erb  and  others,  praying  for  an  injunction,  but 
wei-e  defeated.  Then  they  prayed  the  court  for  a  man- 
damus. This  was  settled  on  November  12,  1846, 
when  the  judge  gave  his  decision  in  favor  of  Erb  and 
his  associates.  On  Wednesday,  the  18th,  the  busy  hum 
of  those  who  were  there  to  put  the  church  in  order  for 
worship  was  heard.  The  following  Sunday  it  was  to  be 
opened  again  for  service,  and  the  hearts  of  the  pastor 
and  his  people  be  made  glad.  While  in  this  happy 
state.  Bishop  Russel  and  his  wife  arrived  to  witness 
this  joy. 

One  who  was  present  at  the  scene  thus  writes:  "  On 
Sunday  morning  the  long  silenced  bells  began  to  ring, 
once  more  inviting  friend  and  foe,  as  in  days  gone  by, 
to  come  to  the  house  of  the  Lord.  This  was  a  solemn 
hour ;  as  far  as  the  sound  of  those  bells  could  be  heard 
you  could  see  old  and  young,  white  and  black,  stand- 
ing in  doors  or  looking  out  of  the  windows,  gazing 
towards  the  steeple  of  Otterbein's  Church,  trying  to 
convince  their  minds,  with  the  eye,  what  the  ear  could 


236  JACOB   EEB 

not  accomplish,  and  when  you  met  with  a  brother  or 
sister,  you  could  see  the  tears  of  gratitude  rolling  down 
their  cheeks,  and  the  first  utterance  was,  '  Thank  the 
Lord.'  Erb  preached  from  Psalms  50 :  14, 15.  I  never 
witnessed  such  a  scene  in  a  congregation  before.  Smiles 
of  joy  on  every  countenance  mingled  with  tears  from 
every  eye.  Then  each  humbling  himself  before  Him 
who  is  mighty  to  save,  pouring  out  sincere  prayers  to 
the  Throne  of  Grace,  imploring  the  Lord  to  forgive 
their  enemies,  that  they  might  be  brought  from  dark- 
ness to  light,  and  see  that  they  who  fight  against  His 
people  are  warring  against  the  Might}^  One  in  Israel." 
Erb  was  for  a  time  a  Trustee  of  Otterbein  University. 
In  connection  Avith  J.  Weaver,  he  was  an  ao-ent  of  the 
University  in  Maryland,  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania, 
selling  scholarships  with  a  view  of  endowing  a  German 
professorship,  and  in  other  ways  advancing  its  inter- 
ests. In  1866  and  the  two  following  j^ears,  he  was  con- 
nected as  part  owner  of  Cottage  Hill  Seminary,  an  insti- 
tution for  the  higher  training  of  young  women,  located 
at  York,  Pa.  In  the  Telescope  of  March  24,  1869,  he 
says :  "  Education  tends  to  the  elevation  of  man 
and  better  fits  him  for  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  the  various  relations  in  life,  and  especially  ministers 
of  the  gospel.  But  while  we  thus  speak  we  hope  it  may 
not  be  so  interpreted  as  to  drive  out  of  the  ministry 
men  who,  by  long  experience  and  practical  efficiency  in 
this  work,  have  become  of  value  to  the  Church,  because 
the}'^  may  not  be  up  with  the  times  in  rhetoric,  algebra 
or  astronomy.  Those  who  have  made  themselves  effi- 
cient by  faithful  work  and  long  experience,  let  it  be 
accounted  to  their  credit  in  lieu  of  other  and  less  impor- 
tant acquirements.     Put  the  hoys  throxigh  on  t?ie  hooks. 


TENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.        237 

but  let  the  veteran  workers  have  credit  for  all  the 
knowledge  tliey  have  derived  from  the  school  of  expe- 
rience. Weed  out  the  worthless,  but  let  the  faithful 
and  serviceable  be  retained  in  the  places  which  they 
have  heretofore  honored."  These  are  utterances  whose 
good  sense  commend  them  to  the  judgment  of  every 
thoughtful  man. 

During  his  ministry  of  sixty  years,  it  was  his  privi- 
lege to  attend  sixty  sessions  of  the  Annual  Conference, 
being  present  at  all  its  sessions  during  his  ministerial 
life  excepting  the  last,  in  1883,  which  he  so  much  desired 
to  attend,  as  his  letter  to  Conference  clearly  indicated, 
but  owing  to  failing  health  and  mental  powers  he  was 
unable  to  do  so.  From  his  letter  to  the  Conference  we 
make  this  extract : 

"I  love  to  look  back  and  see  the  progress  which 
we  as  a  Church  have  made.  Plow  our  brethren  have 
pushed  forward  the  work  is  seen  in  the  hundreds  of 
churches  built,  the  thousands  of  members  received, 
many  of  whom  are  already  safe  in  heaven;  in  the 
schools  wluch  have  been  founded,  in  the  institutions  of 
benevolence;  in  our  publishing  house — becoming  every 
year  more  and  more  extensive;  and  in  the  noble  work 
of  our  missionary  society.  I  thank  God  that  I  have 
lived  to  see  this  day,  which  presents  such  grand  monu- 
ments of  substantial  growth  of  the  Church  of  the  Uni- 
ted Brethren  in  Christ.  As  a  humble  member  of  this 
Conference  I  always 'tried  to  do  my  duty.  In  looking 
back  I  can  see  where  I  might  have  done  better  service, 
but  I  console  myself  with  the  thought  that  I  always 
tried  to  bring  an  honest  heart  to  my  work.  A  kind 
heavenly  Father  granted  to  me  the  privilege  of  attend- 
ing, in  consecutive  order,  sixty  annual  sessions  of  the 


238  JACOB    ERB 

Pennsylvania,  Conference.  Could  I  be  present  with 
you,  this  would  be  my  sixty-first.  My  faith  in  God  is 
strong,  my  confidence  in  His  word  unshaken,  and  I 
know  by  personarexperience  there  is  a  power  in  true 
reliffion.  The  future  of  a  blessed  life  is  to  me  full  of 
hope  and  promise.  God  is  my  refuge  and  my  strength." 

He  came  to  the  parsonage  one  day  to  have  a  talk 
with  his  pastor,  and  tell  him  how  differently  death 
appeared  when  we  are  ourselves  about  to  meet  the  real- 
ities of  it.  "  To  try  to  console  the  dying  is  one  thing, 
to  face  death  yourself  is  another."  Later  on,  when  dis- 
ease was  pressing  him,  he  realized  that  he  was  apt  to  be 
a  little  dissatisfied  with  his  lot,  and  that  his  spirit  was 
not  as  submissive  as  it  should  be.  He  believed  that  it  was 
his  privilege  to  rise  above  such  an  experience,  and  for 
such  he  contended.  His  struggles  were  somewhat  pro- 
tracted. The  night  in  which  he  gained  the  victory,  his 
pastor,  Rev.  D.  R.  Burkholder,  sat  by  his  bedside.  After 
his  severe  struggle,  when  victory  came  it  was  complete. 
The  following  morning  he  said  to  his  daughter  Sue : 
"'  Last  night  I  completely  conquered  the  Devil."  After 
this  he  never  complained.  He  \yas  serene  in  spirit, 
calm,  passive  and  peaceful  to  the  end.  At  times  his 
mind  would  wander  to  his  early  years  and  he  would  live 
over  again  the  scenes  of  his  early  ministry.  When  his 
brethren  came  in  he  always  invited  them  to  pray  with 
him,  aiid,  though  at  times  his  mind  would  wander  a 
little,  he  would  always  respond  with  an  intelligent 
Ameii. 

He  died  on  the  29th  of  April,  1883,  and  was  buried 
m  Shropp's  Grave-Yard,  near  Shiremanstown,  Penn. 
The  funeral  services  were  conducted  by  Bishop  Dickson 
from  John  14:  1,  23.     During  this  interesting  discourse 


TENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN   CHRIST.        239 

he  related  the  following  impressive  incident  coiLcerning 
himself.  "Father  J.  Russell  signed  my  first  Quarterly 
Conference  license.  Father  Hanby  signed  my  Annual 
Conference  license,  and  Father  Erb  signed  my  Ordina- 
tion license.  I  have  now  participated  at  the  funeral 
services  of  each  of  these  fathers." 

Said  his  late  pastor  of  him  :  "As  a  minister  he  was 
studious,  thoughtful,  logical.  His  power  was  felt  and 
his  fame  went  abroad.  He  advocated  and  contended 
for  harmony  between  the  outer  rectitude  and  the  inner 
experience.  He  proved  his  ministry  in  the  last 
moments  of  his  life.  His  faith  was  strong,  his  hope  was 
bright,  his  end  was  peaceful.  As  the  shades  of  night 
were  gathering  around  us  he  calmly  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 
Peace,  be  still ;  the  Master  called  his  aged  servant  from 
labor  to  rest,  and  while  we  miss  his  presence  and  coun- 
sel, his  influence  lives." 

When  he  came  to  preside  over  Allegheny  Confer- 
ence, he  found  some  restless  spirits  who  possibly  wanted 
to  test  the  mettle  of  their  Bishop,  and  he  had  trouble 
to  keep  them  in  proper  bounds.  One  day  he  said  to 
them  "  In  the  other  Conference  when  the  Bishop  makes 
a  few  remarks  he  puts  the  question  and  that  is  the  end 
of  it ;  but  you  won't  have  it  so  here."  And  yet  these 
men  learned  to  love  him  very  dearly.  Says  one  of 
these  same  men  in  a  note :  "  He  was  about  five  feet  nine 
inches  in  height,  and  would  weigh  about  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  pounds.  He  was  full  of  fun  and  enjoyed 
a  good  joke  and  a  pleasant  sally  of  wit,  but  was  not 
foolish  about  it.  He  was  a  very  hospitable  man,  who 
liked  to  entertain  his  friends  and  enjo3^ed  their  society. 
He  was  open-hearted  and  generous,  giving  freely  of  his 
money  to  advance  interests  that  he  loved.     His  ances- 


240  JACOB    ERB. 

tors  were  Mennonites,  and  some  of  their  peculiarities 
clung  to  him  all  his  life.  He  dressed  often  without  a 
collar,  with  a  white  neck-tie,  a  shadbelly  coat,  generally 
of  a  brown  color,  and  wore  a  white  hat.  He  was  a 
good  German  scholar  and  preacher,  but  not  so  good  in 
English.  Never  lazy  in  the  pulpit,  but  full  of  anima- 
tion, and  his  eyes  would  sparkle  when  he  threw  his 
whole  soul  into  his  subject.  He  was  often  in  tears  him- 
self and  melted  his  hearers  to  tears.  His  preaching 
was  practical  and  awakening.  A  stranger's  first  impres- 
sion of  him  would  be,  '  That  man  is  in  earnest  and 
believes  what  he  sa3^s.'  He  was  never  jealous  of  others. 
It  did  him  good  to  hear  them  preach  Avell.  He  rejoiced 
at  their  success,  and  therefore  had  the  esteem  and  good 
will  of  all.  He  favored  colleges,  Sabbath- schools,  and 
everything  that  looked  like  enterprise  and  growth.  In 
this  respect  he  was  in  advance  of  many  of  his  brethren. 
The  Church  did  not  move  forward  and  leave  him  behind, 
sour  and  discontented,  but  he  grew  with  it,  and  kept 
himself  in  good  spirits.  In  his  later  years  he  was  ten- 
der and  fatherly,  kind  and  forgiving.  The  Church  lost 
a  valuable  man,  a  faithful  member,  a  devoted  friend, 
when  he  was  called  hence." 

"  Yet  what  is  death,  so  it  be  glorious  ? 
'Tis  a  sunset." 


REV.  HENRY  KUMLER  JR., 

ELEVENTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


HENRY  KUMLER,  JR.,  was  born  at  Myerstown, 
in  Lancaster  county,  Penn.,  January  9, 1801,  but 
was  brought  up  at  Greencastle,  Franklin  County,  Penn. 
He  was  one  of  eleven  children.  His  father,  also 
named  Henry  Kumler,  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
German  Reformed  Church,  while  his  mother  had  been 
.  reared  a  Mennonite.  Young  Henry  had  very  poor 
educational  advantages.  Between  six  and  fourteen 
years  of  age  he  went  to  school  some,  but  his  teacher 
was  very  inefficient.  When  not  drunk,  he  was  very 
severe,  and  poor  Henry  had  to  suffer  the  consequences 
of  that  ungoverned  temper. 

The  father,  while  a  nominal  member  of  church,  was 
not  a  converted  man.  About  the  year  1812  he 
experienced  a  change  of  heart,  and  established  an  altar 
of  prayer  in  his  home.  One  evening,  feeling  in  an 
unusually  happy  condition,  he  sang  and  prayed,  and 
was  especially  drawn  out  in  prayer  for  his  childreil. 
He  named  them,  and  prayed  for  them  with  unusual 
fervor.  The  mother  followed  in  prayer  on  their 
behalf.  Soon  one  of  them  cried  out,  "  I  am  lost ! "  then 
another.  The  father,  while  still  on  his  knees,  passed 
around  among  his  children  and  encouraged  them  to  go 
to  God.  In  a  tender  tone  he  said  to  the  boy :  "  Henry, 
do  you  not  wish  to  go  with  me  to  Heaven  ? "     The 

241 


242  HENRY    KUMLER,    JR., 

boy's  heart  was  almost  broken,  and  he  began  to  weep 
and  pray.  About  three  months  after  this  period  he 
was  converted.  He  tells  the  story  himself  in  the  fol- 
lowing language:  "While  at  a  meeting  at  Jacob 
Wengert's,  my  soul  was  more  than  ever  depressed, 
burdened  and  gloomy,  and  my  distress  on  account  of 
sin  was  very  great.  When  the  change  was  effected  I 
could  not  help  knowing  the  fact.  My  chains  fell  off ; 
my  prison  doors  were  broken  open ;  my  condemned 
soul  no  longer  trembled  under  the  sentence  of  death. 
My  tongue  was  filled  with  praise,  and  my  mouth  with 
laughter.  I  felt  myself  one  of  the  favored  of  the 
Lord.  For  weeks  after  this  I  was  as  one  who  knew  no 
want.  My  water  was  pleasant,  my  bread  was  sweet, 
and  labor  rest.  I  loved  sincerely,  and  my  love  knew 
no  bounds.  I  delighted  in  the  closet,  the  prayer  meet- 
ing, the  society  of  the  just ;  and  the  word  of  God 
was  heard  with  gladness." 

Soon  after  his  conversion  he  joined  the  United 
Brethren  church,  of  which  his  father  was  a  member. 
When  fourteen  years  of  age  he  was  made  leader  of  a 
class  in  Greencastle.  He  had  about  three  and  a  half 
miles  to  walk  to  meet  his  class,  but  he  attended  to  his 
duties  faithfully.  The  young  people,  many  of  them 
church  members,  who  had  been  taught  to  ridicule  the 
kind  of  piety  which  this  boy  practiced  would  see  him 
on  his  way  to  meeting,  and  would  annoy  him  by  using 
such  remarks  as  the  following :  "  Ha,  Henry,  going 
for  more  glory  and  hallelujah,  are  you?" 

While  a  class  leader  the  Spirit  began  to  operate  upon 
his  heart,  and  he  could  not  get  rid  of  the  impression  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  preach  the  gospel.  "Feeling  an 
utter  want  of  fitness,  either  to  exhort  or  preach,  he 


/^T^CAJ   /y^c-yTyiy    /C^^t.^7>^C^l^ 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BKETHKEN    IN    CHRIST.    243 

slwank  from  duty,  concealed  his  convictions  in  his  own 
bosom,  and  thereby  brought  upon  his  soul  darkness, 
doubts  and  keen  distress.  His  cheeks  were  often  wet 
with  tears  as  he  followed  the  plow,  meditating  upon 
these  things,  or  while  he  wandered  and  prayed  for 
hours  together  in  the  woods."  He  finally  opened  his 
heart  to  his  friend,  F.  Baulus  who  gave  him  good  ad- 
vice. A  sermon  having  been  preached  by  Rev.  William 
Brown,  who  afterward  became  a  bishop  in  the  church, 
it  made  a  very  deep  impression  on  his  mind.  He 
attempted  to  exhort  after  him.  The  family  moved  to 
Ohio  in  1819.  After  exhorting  about  a  year  he  was 
authorized  to  preach.  His  license  is  signed  by  C  New- 
comer, bears  date  June  2,  1819,  and  was  given  to  him 
while  threshing  grain  in  his  father's  barn.  He  was 
then  in  his  nineteenth  year.  An  amusing  story  is  told 
of  his  first  preaching.  When  in  the  midst  of  his  dis- 
course a  woman  in  the  audience  was  seized  with  what 
was  familiarly  known  in  that  day  as  "  the  jerks." 
His  attention  for  the  moment  having  been  called  away, 
he  lost  his  bearings,  and  the  text  and  sermon  disap- 
peared from  his  mind.  He  could  not  recall  the  sub- 
ject, the  words  of  the  text,  nor  where  they  could  be 
found.  He  was  in  a  quandary,  and  did  not  knoAv 
what  to  do.  He  did  not  want  to  sit  down,  and  he 
could  not  go  on.  Turning  to  a  brother  who  sat  by  his 
side,  he  said  to  him  in  a  subdued  tone  of  voice,  "Brother 
John,  where  is  my  text  ? "  Brother  Featherhoff  gave 
him  the  desired  information,  and  he  finished  his  sermon 
without  further  molestation. 

"Instead  of  devoting  himself  to  the  ministr}'-  with- 
out reserve,  he  was  persuaded  by  his  relatives  to  attend 
first  to  the  securement  of  a  good  home  for  his  family, 


244  HENRY   KUMLER,    JR., 

meantime  to  preach  as  he  could  gratuitously.  Against 
this  course  both  his  understanding  and  his  conscience 
protested,  but  he  was  unable  to  resist  the  appeals  of 
worldly  prudence  which  came  to  him  from  all  sides. 
Sometimes  he  would  break  away  and  spend  more  time 
in  preaching  than  his  pecuniary  interests  seemed  to 
allow.  On  one  occasion  of  this  kind,  returning  from 
rather  a  long  preaching  tour,  he  was  met  by  his  prudent 
father-in-law,  who  was  in  a  very  serious  mood.  "Henry," 
said  he,  "  when  a  man  is  married  he  ought  to  take 
care  of  his  family,  and  if  you  intend  to  be  an  itinerant, 
you  can  not  keep  a  wife,  and  I  will  have  to  take  Chris- 
tena  home  again."  To  a  spirited  young  man  with  a 
young  wife  this  kind  of  influence  was  hard  to  resist,  and 
it  eventually  drove  him  into  extensive  business  with 
the  hope  that  he  might  soon  acquire  a  competence  and 
become  an  untrammeled  itinerant.  With  this  object 
in  view,  he  removed  to  Preble  county,  erected  a  large 
mill  for  grinding,  started  a  woolen  factory,  opened  a 
tanyard  and  cleared  out  a  farm.  And  yet,  while  he 
had  all  these  enterprises  on  hand,  he  preached  every 
Sabbath  and  often  through  the  week  at  funerals,  but 
he  preached  without  preparation,  and  most  of  the  time 
without  the  Spirit.  Thus  he  toiled  in  what  he  calls 
"  Egyptian  servitude"  sixteen  years,  much  of  which 
time  he  had  little  peace,  nay,  was  very  unhappy.  He 
did  nothing  to  improve  his  fortune  and  nothing  com- 
paratively for  the  Lord.  But  he  was  in  the  snare  of 
Satan,  and  how  was  he  to  be  released  ?  God  had  pre- 
pared a  Nathan  in  the  person  of  a  humble  currier  in  his 
employ,  to  administer  a  salutary  reproof.  Calling  him 
into  the  shop  one  day  he  said,  "  Brother  Kumler,  I 
want  to  talk  plainly  to  you.     One  who  has  so  much 


ELEVENTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BKETHKEN    IN    CHRIST.     245 

business  on  hand  as  you  have  is  not  fit  to  preach,  and 
you  had  better  quit  it.  You  have  no  religion,  and  you 
are  doing  no  good  by  your  preaching.  These  old 
church  preachers  can  preach  without  the  spirit,  for  they 
have  the  form,  but  you  have  neither  form  nor  power." 

These  words  burned  like  a  blister  at  the  time,  but 
they  were  wholesome.  He  felt  the  force  of  the  reproof, 
and  made  no  apologies  for  himself.  He  took  his  case 
to  God,  covenanted  to  be  his  minister,  sold  his  mills,  set- 
tled up  his  affairs,  and  threw  himself  unreservedly  into 
the  itinerancy.  "Oh,  had  1  been  wise,"  he  has  often  said, 
"and  obeyed  God  instead  of  man,  how  much  more  good  I 
might  have  done  and  how  many  grievous  sorrows 
would  I  have  escaped.  I  have,"  he  has  said,  "  trav- 
eled wherever  sent  since  I  became  an  itinerant ;  have 
received  often  a  mere  pittance  for  support ;  have  en- 
dured weariness,  privations,  and  yet  I  have  been  a  hap- 
py man,  even  in  temporal  matters  I  have  done  better 
than  when  I  devoted  myself  to  them," 

Mr.  Kumler  had  been  a  class  leader  for  three  years, 
in  his  early  life,  an  exhorter  one  year,  sixteen  years  a 
local  and  half  itinerant  preacher,  and  twenty  years  an 
unreserved  itinerant  until  1854,  when  he  became  connect- 
ed with  the  Telescope  office.  He  was  elected  presiding 
elder  in  Miami  conference  in  1836,  in  which  office  he 
continued  until  1841,  when  he  was  elected  bishop,  and 
served  in  this  .capacity  four  years.  In  1846  he  was 
re-elected  presiding  elder,  in  which  office,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  two  years,  he  continued  until  1853. 

In  1853  he  was  a  trustee  of  the  printing  house,  and 
traveled  in  its  interest.  On  February  24, 1854,  he  was 
elected  publishing  agent.  He  was  not  in  favor  of  high 
salaries,  and  this  may  be  one  reason  why  his  election  was 


246  HENKY    KUMLER,    JR., 

not  looked  upon  with  much  favor  by  some  of  the  em- 
ployes. The  next  day  after  his  election  ho  writes : 
"  Had  much  perplexity  to-day  with  the  office  buildings, 
and  officers  looking  down  their  noses  and  resigning  their 
offices."  March  2,  he  says:  "Matters  are  very  perplex- 
ing here  in  view  of  habits  which  have  resulted  from 
principles  of  loose  government.  Oh,  Lord,  give  me  wis- 
dom." He  was  a  man  of  strong  convictions.  He  had 
his  own  judgment  as  how  to  best  carry  on  this  business 
for  the  good  of  the  church.  He  was  a  fast  friend  to 
the  establishment,  but  also  loyal  to  his  convictions  of 
duty.  A  man  of  such  intense  nature  and  so  thoroughly 
conscientious  could  not  have  smooth  sailing  unless  he 
had  things  his  own  way.  His  diary,  during  these 
months,  shows  a  great  deal  of  care  and  perplexity,  and 
yet,  withal,  as  sweet  and  forgiving  a  spirit  as  the  circum- 
stances could  permit. 

He  removed  to  Dayton  and  entered  upon  his  work. 
March  14th  he  writes:  "  This  morning  I  had  great  trials. 
When  a  brother,  who  should  have  more  sense,  treats 
one  with  hard  language  it  sets  hard.  Oh,  God,  give 
me  more  patience  to  bear  all  things." 

21st — "  The  question  was  raised  to-day  in  the  office 
whether  attending  to  its  business  was  serving  Mammon 
or  Christ." 

27th — "  We  had  a  meeting  at  the  office  to-day  for  a 
better  organization,  so  that  each  one  is  to  mind  his  own 
part.     If  each  is  minded  to  do  his  part  all  is  pleasant." 

April  4th — "  To-day  I  had  much  aggravation,  our 
pressman  left  without  finding  us  a  proper  man  in  his 
place.     I  do  not  intend  to  let  the  devil  deceive  me." 

10th — "  Returned  to  Dayton  and  found  things  out  of 
fix.     Oh,  how  I  am  tempted." 


ELEVENTH   BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHKEN   IN    CHRIST.    247 

11th — "  To-day  I  had  a  gloomy  (\?ij.  I  had  a  set- 
tlement among  the  men  with  whom  a  diiSculty  existed. 
I  hope  it  will  go  better." 

14th — "  Had  some  trouble  to-day  with  the  girls. 
They  are  not  worth  what  they  cost  in  a  printing  office. 
They  can  do  no  errands.     Boys  are  much  cheaper." 

17th — "  I  did  not  know  how  much  a  man  could  do 
to  win  an  enemy  until  I  tried  so  to  do.  I  am  sorry  I 
have  not  more  patience  with  my  enemies." 

18th — "  This  day  was  a  day  of  perpetual  aggrava- 
tion to  me.  Oh  God,  I  have  not  half  the  patience  I 
need  for  an  agent  here  at  this  establishment." 

22d — "  To-day  I  had  much  to  do,  I  am  very  much 
perplexed." 

24th — "  This  was  another  day  of  perplexity  to  me. 
Some  of  our  hands  were  on  a  spree  and  left  the  busi- 
ness lag.  I  am  disheartened  about  things  here.  All 
kinds  of  aggravation  must  be  met  with  when  there  are 
some  twenty-five  hands  to  work.  Oh  my  soul,  have 
thou  more  patience  when  things  seem  to  go  wrong." 

26th — "  I  am  almost  out  of  patience.  Some  things 
are  going  wrong  every  day." 

April  2d — "  To-day  I  am  much  perplexed  because  of 
the  multitude  of  business.  I  believe  in  my  heart  we 
will  never  get  done  with  business.  Oh  Lord,  grant 
that  I  may  at  least  be  done  to  die." 

Monday,  April  8th,  was  an  unusally  bad  day.  "  This 
day  was  a  day  of  trouble,  also  a  day  of  great  trial. 
Indeed  I  thought  the  devil  was  loose.  I  fear  I  will  get 
angry." 

9th — "  This  morning  Satan  has  sought  to  provoke 
me  to  anger.  Oh,  my  God,  help  me  to  lean  on  Thy 
grace." 


248  HENKT   KUMLEE,    JR., 

On  the  11th  light  seemed  to  break  in.  "  This  day- 
was  a  pleasant  day  to  me.  Oh,  what  a  pity  that  man- 
kind is  not  more  tender  to  his  species.  If  man  is 
happy  himself,  he  can  make  others  so  too." 

22d — "  This  day  I  am  made  to  lament  the  waste  of 
things  about  the  office  and  yet  I  am  so  fixed  I  can  not 
help  this  excess." 

23d — "  I  am  resolved  not  to  fret  so  much  as  I  have 
done." 

26th — "  To-day  I  had  a  better  time  than  common  ; 
was  in  a  good  humor  all  day." 

JuljT^  11th — "  This  was  a  day  of  perplexity  to  me 
because  of  the  indifference  of  hands.  When  men  are 
not  willing  to  do  their  duty  how  provoking." 

A  new  trouble  comes  up,  which  adds  not  a  little  to 
his  perplexities,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  interfere 
with  his  church  relations. 

July  15th — "  This  day  I  had  some  perplexities  with 

Brother about  the  withholding  of  the  money 

pledged  for  the  removal  of  the  office  .to  Dayton." 

July  18th — "  To-day  I  had  my  patience  tried  again, 
I  have  more  hopes  that  the  things  falling  out  to  me  in 
Dayton,  as  they  do  will  make  me  a  better  man." 

August  14th — "  Was  not  in  the  office  one  minute 
until  I  was  provoked.  I  had  provocation  upon  provoca- 
tion. Men  are  intent  upon  imposing  on  this  office  by 
unjust  bills." 

On  the  18th  he  writes  :  "  This  was  a  day  of  anxiety 
and  fear,  for  I  had  promised  money,  and  the  last  hope 
of  getting  it  all  failed.  This  gave  me  much  uneasiness 
indeed." 

On  the  following  day  he  writes :  "  To-day  I  got  all 
the  money  I  needed,  and  some  to  spare." 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED   BRETHREN   IN   CHEIST.    249 

August  SOtli  there  came  a  new  revelation  to  him : 
"  To-day  I  discovered  a  serpent  striking  somewhere,  a 
deep-laid  plot  to  get  me  away  from  this  office.  Oh, 
Lord,  grant  me  that  favor,  that  if  Thou  desirest  me 
away  from  here,  it  may  come  to  pass." 

Wednesday,  September  6th,  he  attends  the  annual 
conference  at  Miltonville— "  The  conference  con- 
cluded I  was  blamable  for  not  holding  fellowship  with 
the  brethren  at  Dayton,  which  I  can  not  do.  In  this 
difficulty,  I  am  not  contending  for  dollars  of  my  own, 
but  for  the  rights  of  the  printing  office.  Oh,  Lord, 
guide  me  aright !  " 

November  11th — "  I  had  some  trouble  in  word  about 
what  some  in  the  office  call  stinginess  in  me,  but  I 
charge  them  with  being  wasteful  in  little  things." 

21st — "  This  day  I  had  some  perplexity,  but  I  bore 
it  in  patience.  The  printing  office  is  a  hard  case  to 
manage  ;  grace  is  needed." 

22d — "  I  am  much  depressed  in  spirit  to-day,  that  I 
feel  as  though  I  could  not  stay  .about  such  a  concern 
any  longer.     I  wish  I  could  undo  my  coming  here." 

28th — "  I  feel  as  though  I  was  too  much  concerned 
for  the  office,  or  others  too  little.  Men  are  ffettins"  too 
nice  to  do  their  duty." 

December  8th — "  This  day  my  relation  as  trustee 
and  publishing  agent  of  the  printing  establishment 
did  cease,  not  to  be  renewed  soon." 

9tb — "  I  have  not  been  profited  in  coming  to  Da}^- 
ton.  It  was  a  dark  and  dreary  Providence.  May 
it  turn  to  my  salvation." 

15th — "  Since  the  care  of  the  finance  of  the  printing 
office  is  off  my  mind,  I  am  like  a  man  loosed  out  of 
prison." 


250  HENKY    KUMLER,    JK., 

February  14th  he  made  his  last  day's  work  in  the 
office.  During  the  days  preceding  he  spent  some  time 
in  preparing  some  articles  on  "  Total  Depravity."  His 
experience  during  the  last  few  months  in  the  office 
would,  no  doubt,  be  very  suggestive  to  him. 

Mr.  Kumler  did  not  look  upon  this  experience  as  a 
very  satisfactory  one.  He  says  himself  :  "  Being  in  a 
great  glee  to  do  something  great  for  the  church,  I 
accordingly  laid  hold  in  good  earnest,  but  I  was  like 
Esau;  I  willed  and  did  run,  but  caught  to  myself  vex- 
ation, care,  much  labor  and  but  few  friends.  After  a 
full  trial,  I  became  convinced  that  I  was  fastened  to 
the  wrong  car.  After  several  weeks  of  reflection,  and 
a  most  singular  turn  of  my  affairs  by  a  trustee  meet- 
ing, I  resolved  to  resign  the  office  of  trustee,  which  I 
did ;  and  it  would  have  been  much  to  my  credit,  com- 
fort and  financial  success  if  I  had  done  so  on  the  day 
when  I  was  elected  by  the  General  Conference.  Yet 
out  of  all  my  mistakes  God  has  distilled  a  bitters  well 
calculated  to  deplete  self,  and  in  its  stead  make  mani- 
fest in  me  the  riches  of  His  grace." 

In  addition  to  the  labors  and  the  cares  that  came 
from  a  business  to  which  he  had  not  been  accustomed, 
he  was  especially  worried,  because  some  of  the  brethren 
at  Dayton  had  promised  to  pay  the  expense  of  moving 
the  office  from  Circleville,  over  and  above  $40.  These 
brethren  "  refused  to  comply  with  their  pledge  given 
to  the  General  Conference,  because  it  cost  more  than 
they  expected.  I  could  not  fellowship  these  men  in  the 
worship  of  God.  For  months  I  have  not  been  in  the 
church  here  in  Dayton.  This  was  a  great  privation  to 
me.  I  will  not  soon  again  take  upon  me  to  care  so 
much  for  any  concern  as  I  have  for  this  office.     It  has 


ELEVENTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BKETHREN   IN   CHRIST.    251 

been  to  me  a  second  wife,  and  I  cared  for  her  as  for  a 

wife,  but  this  wife  has  died  on  the  8th  of  December, 
1854.  I  mourned  a  few  days,  but  now  I  am  comforted." 
On  the  17th  of  April,  by  the  appointment  of  the 
Missionary  Board,  he  started  for  Nebraska  to  open  up 
a  work  for  the  United  Brethren  Church  in  that  Ter- 
ritory.    He  spent  six  months  or  more  in  this  work. 
He  found  the  outlook  very  discouraging,  but  he  did 
some  good  work.     During  a  portion  of  the  time  his 
health  was  not  good,  and  this  may  be  one  reason  "  why 
discouragement  looked  hun  in  the  face."     He  says:  "At 
Omaha  I  have  prayed  for  several  families,  but  as  yet 
they  would  rather  go  to  a  frolic  than  to  church."     At 
this    time    Omaha    was    about  ten  months    old,  and 
had    about   500  inhabitants.     He  was  in    the   midst 
of  dangers,   trials  and   perplexities,   which    come    to 
all  in  a  newly  settled  country.     He  found  the  clergy 
there  mostly  engaged  in  ''  fishing  up  their  members 
coming  from  other  countries  and  churches,  and  in  build- 
ing up  secret  societies    *    *    *    The  gods  of  this  world, 
secrecy  and  brandy  are  the  three  gods  worshiped,  and 
divine  worship  deplorably  dead  and  formal."  As  a  speci- 
men of  his  labors  he  writes:  "  On  the  29th,  in  company 
with  one  of  the  dwellers  at  De  Soto,  we  set  out  for 
Fountenelle,  fixing  stakes  by  lohich  to  travel  hereafter, 
as  mine  was  the  first  vehicle  that  passed.     I  got  to  the 
place   much    wearied,   having  traveled    about    thirty 
miles  without  any  inhabitants,  and  preached  for  the 
people.      Some  thirty  or  forty  families  are  crowded 
into  a  few  tents  and  huts  in  a  circular  form  like  a  camp 
meeting.     Here  I  sleep  in  the  midst  of  revolvers  and 
guns.     Here  the  powder  is  kept  dry  and  a  guard  all 
night  because  of  the  Indians  who  have  stopped  several 


252  HENEY    KUMLEE,    JE., 

families  of  them  all  this  week.  I  left  another  appoint 
ment.  My  condition  in  Nebraska  is  unpleasant ;  at 
times  I  feel  as  though  I  would  as  lief  go  to  heaven 
from  here,  so  far  from  Ohio.  At  times  I  felt  as  if  I 
might  as  well  and  better  be  in  another  world,  for  all  I 
do  here.  But  God,  who  knows  best,  will  lead  me  in  this 
zigzag  course  only  as  long  as  is  necessary  to  prepare 
me  for  the  Canaan  of  heaven." 

At  the  close  of  the  year  he  had  traveled  and 
preached  in  eleven  counties  —  six  in  Nebraska,  and  five 
in  Iowa.  He  writes :  "  This  mission  has  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  appointments,  three  small  societies  organ- 
ized, one  Sabbath-school  well  attended,  six  subscrip- 
tions for  the  Children^  Friend  and  twelve  for  the  Re- 
ligious Telescope^  two  local  ministers  and  a  fair  prospect 
for  the  formation  of  more  societies,  about  twenty 
members.  Nine  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents  in  free-will 
donations  were  given  to  me.  A  majority  of  the  folks 
in  Nebraska  were  astounded  that  /did  not  also  put  in 
for  a  "claim."  They  would  stare  at  me  as  though 
they  thought  me  deranged  when  I  informed  them  that 
the  Lord  was  my  claim  (portion)." 

Mr.  Kumler  gives  us  his  own  impressions  of  this 
year's  work :  "  This  year  has  ended  with  all  its  cares, 
bustle  and  grief.  I,  too,  have  died  to  some  things. 
One  of  these  is  the  notion  of  greatness  and  tall  preach- 
ing entertained  by  me.  Tall  preaching  brmgs  men 
into  note,  but  oh,  what  a  deception!  Great  preaching 
is  that  which  God  Himself  directs.  A  man  does  not 
become  noted,  as  a  speaker  so  much  from  the  wisdom 
of  words  as  by  the  power  of  God  bidding  him  to  speak 
to  dead  sinners,  by  which  they  are  made  to  live. " 

Being  solicited  by  the  executive  committee  on  mis- 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BKETHEEN    IN   CHEIST.    253 

sions  "  to  go  to  Nebraska  as  a  missionary,  I  consented 
to  do  so.  First  as  an  act  of  penance,  in  order  to  mor- 
tify my  pride  ;  secondly  as  an  act  of  obedience  to 
Christ's  command  :  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world.'  My 
traveling  in  JS^ebraska  was  in  general  unpleasant,  be- 
cause of  the  rude  state  both  of  the  country  and  of  socie- 
ty. The  whole  population  in  Nebraska  is  irreligious. 
When  they  learned  ray  business,  but  little  attention 
was  given  to  me.  The  ministers  of  other  denomina- 
tions were  generally  members  of  secret  orders,  and 
thereby  gave  me  occasion  to  withhold  my  fellowship 
from  them.  *  *  *  To  my  great  mortification  I 
was  greatly  embarrassed  in  preaching  the  word.  I 
somehow  forgot  the  splendor  and  glory  of  the 
sacred  volume.  Its  treasures  were  concealed.  But 
few  sermons  preached  by  me  in  Nebraska  were  clear. 
This  was  to  me  a  great  mystery.  I  was  thus  taken 
through  the  furnace  of  affliction  in  different  ways,  that 
I  may  never  forget  that  I  am  nothing.  At  times,  not 
a  few,  I  had  heavenly  pleasures  that  are  yet  untold. 
Tears  were  my  companions  for  miles,  and  praises  to 
God  gushed  forth  from  my  lips — praises  heard  only  by 
Him  who  beholdeth  all  things." 

Soon  after  his  appointment  to  the  Missouri  Mission, 
in  1852,  he  fell  from  a  tree  upon  the  edge  of  an  ax 
"and  cut  my  leg  two-thirds  off  in  the  joint."  This 
would  have  discouraged  an  ordinary  man,  but  as  soon 
as  he  could  move  about  on  crutches  he  was  off  to  his 
work,  traveling  by  private  conveyance  a  distance  of 
800  miles. 

September  18th,  he  writes,  "  Started  for  Missouri. 
It  was  a  serious  time.  I  had  to  harden  myself  to  keep 
from  tears.     The  Lord  was  with  me."     During  the 


254:  HENEY    KUMLEK,    JR., 

same  year  he  performed  this  long  journey  after  this 
once  by  water  and  twice  by  his  own  conveyance. 

While  about  his  work  in  Southwestern  Missouri, 
serious  rumors  began  to  be  current  about  his  abolir 
tionism,  and  it  was  insinuated  that  he  was  down  there 
"  for  some  evil  intent."  He  paid  no  attention  to  them, 
but  went  on  about  his  work.  He  called  upon  the  peo- 
ple in  general  to  assist  him.  A  wealthy  slaveholder 
sent  him  word  that  he  desired  to  have  an  interview 
with  him  at  his  own  house.  Mr.  Kumler  called,  and 
the  following  conversation  ensued : 

"  The  report  is  out,  Mr.  Kumler,  that  you  are  an 
anti-Mason.     Are  you  opposed  to  Masonry  ?  " 

Mr.  Kumler  answered,  "  Yes,  I  am." 

A  few  words  passed  upon  the  subject  of  slavery, 
when  Mr.  T.  abruptly  asked,  "  Are  you  an  abolition- 
ist?" 

Mr.  Kumler,  "  That  depends  upon  the  meaning  you 
attach  to  the  word.  In  the  North  in  many  places  I 
would  not  be  considered  an  abolitionist.  But  I  am,  an 
anti-slaTiery  vian  to  the  core." 

This  last  remark  stirred  Mr.  T.'s  warm  blood,  and 
he  quickly  responded,  "  Damn  you !  What  business, 
then,  have  you  here  ?  If  you  know  what  is  for  your 
good,  you  will  make  tracks  to  a  free  State  very  soon." 

Mr.  Kumler,  not  in  the  least  frightened  by  the  rude 
speech,  quietly  but  firmly  replied: 

"  Mr.  T.,  if  you  can  not  converse  with  me  without 
polluting  your  lips  with  oaths,  I  will  not  talk  with 
you  at  all.  I  have  heard  it  thunder  before,  and  you  need 
not  think  I  am  to  be  frightened  away  from  the  work. 
I  am  here  to  do  my  duty.  I  have  not  come  to  meddle 
with  your  blacks,  but  it  is  a  part  of  my  duty  to  tell  you 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.    255 

that  it  is  your  duty  to  set  your  blacks  free,  and  that 
you  will  have  a  fearful  reckoning  at  the  bar  of  God." 
Mr.  T.  cooled  down,  invited  Mr,  Kumler  to  visit  him 
again,  and  promised  to  do  something  for  the  church. 

The  Maumee  country  in  Northwestern  Ohio,  not 
many  years  ago,  wasamudd}^  wilderness,  with  here  and 
there  a  few  new  settlements.  There  were  few  roads, 
fewer  bridges  and  not  many  of  the  conveniences  or  com- 
forts of  life.  Anxious  to  extend  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  into  this  section,  in  1841  Mr.  Kumler  pene- 
trated on  horseback  into  the  new  region,  and  was  the 
means  of  commencing  a  work,  the  results  of  which 
eternity  alone  will  unfold.  He  had  just  the  patience 
and  energy  necessary  to  push  through  prickly-ash 
s wails,  eight,  ten  and  twenty  miles  in  extent  on  a 
trail;  to  wade  in  deep  mud  from  daylight  to  dark;  to 
cross  swollen  streams  without  bridges,  and  to  make  him- 
self happy  in  the  open  cabin  of  the  new  settler.  Many 
anecdotes  might  be  related,  illustrative  of  the  spirit  in 
which  he  prosecuted  this  work.  He  had  ridden  all  day 
hard,  most  of  the  time  in  rain,  mud  and  water.  His 
"leggin's,"  and  indeed  most  of  his  clothes,  were  coated 
with  mud.  As  the  sun  was  about  setting,  his  horse 
plunged  into  a  deep  slough,  and,  in  the  struggle  to  get 
out,  fell  upon  his  side,  at  the  same  time  pitching  Mr. 
Kumler  at  full  length  into  soft  mud  and  water.  As  he 
gathered  himself  up,  fished  out  his  saddle-bags,  and 
poured  out  the  muddy  water,  which  had  run  in  among 
his  books  and  clothes,  a  feeling  of  impatience  began  to 
arise  in  his  mind.  It  was  a  favorable  time  just  then, 
as  the  shades  of  night  began  to  settle  around  the  weary, 
wet  and  hungry  itinerant  in  the  woods,  for  Satan  to 
make  an  onslaught.      But  he  was  "  a  foeman  worthy 


256  HENEY   KUMLEE,    JE,, 

of  liis  steel."  Mr.  Kumler  at  once  discerned  the 
enemy's  plan  and  said:  "  Satan,  I  have  had  the  victory 
over  you  all  the  day  and  you  are  not  going  to  get  the 
advantage  of  me  now,  just  at  night,  when  I  am  in  this 
pickle.  1*^0,  sir;  I  will  crow  over  3'ou,"  and  crow  he  did. 
He  was  a  vigorous  student  of  books,  and  especially 
of  God's  word.  He  was  not  intellectually  idle.  No 
lazy  preacher  shall  ever  find  anything  in  his  teaching 
or  example  to  encourage  indolence  or  ignorance.  The 
many  articles  found  in  the  columns  of  the  Telescope 
bear  witness  that  he  always  had  something  to  say, 
and  that  he  had  learned  the  art  of  putting  things.  We 
may  not  always  agree  with  his  judgments,  but  there 
is  an  honesty  and  force  about  them  that  wins  our 
respect.  The  brief  notes  in  his  diary  teem  with  refer- 
ences to  his  studies.  "  Reading  a  work  entitled  '  Phi- 
losophy of  the  Plan  of  Salvation ;'"  "  spent  the  main 
part  of  the  day  in  reading  and  writing;"  "  read  '  Elijah 
the  Tishbite,'  and  found  it  very  interesting;"  "busy 
reading  and  writing;  I  fault  myself  for  not  having  that 
taste  for  reading  which  I  should  have."  "  I  am  busy 
reading  the  historj^  of  the  popes  of  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries ;"  "  finished  reading  our  Church 
History ;"  "  reading  the  History  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  ;"  "  reading  '  Plutarch's  Lives ;'  "  "  reading 
'  McKnight's  Epistles  ; '  '  Upham's  Mental  Philosophy' 
and  '  Peters  on  Baptism'  a  third  time ; "  "  reading '  Wat- 
son's Institutes '  again.  "  While  a  missionary  in  Mis- 
souri, he  still  reads  :  "  reading  '  Christmas  Evan's  Ser- 
mons;' he  was  a  mighty  Welshman;"  "reading 
'  Home's  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Bible,'  a 
very  valuable  work  indeed."  "I  am  through  vrith 
Home." 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BKETHREN    IN    CHRIST.    257 

Especially  was  he  thorough  in  the  examination  of 
books  concerning  the  Bible  and  in  the  Bible  itself.  He 
believed  that  a  competent  preacher  must  be  a  close 
student  of  God's  word.  Again  and  again  he  speaks  of 
the  pleasure  which  he  jQnds  in  such  study :  "A  pleasant 
day  forme  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures ;"  "  reading  the 
Bible  and  committing  to  memory  all  lean  ;  "  "  this  day 
is  devoted  to  reading  the  Scriptures  ;  to  know  and  to 
understand  the  Bible  is  my  delight ;  "  "  was  refreshing 
my  memory  on  Paul's  letter  to  the  Romans;  it  is  a 
creamy  epistle  ; "  "  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  is  the 
most  delio'htful  work  on  earth  : "  "  readinfy  the  book  of 
Joshua— this  should  be  studied  by  jurists  and  lawyers  ;" 
"  to-day  I  am  reading  in  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Hebrews;  I  am  too  dull  for  a  preacher ;  oh,  my  God, 
quicken  Thou  me  for  the  great  work  of  the  ministry  ; " 
"reading  in  the  book  of  I^umbers;  never  did  I 
•read  these  histories  with  as  much  interest  as  now ;" 
"  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  in  all  the  messages  de- 
livered to  Israel,  uses  the  plainest  style,  and  not  the 
much  refined  and  hypercritical  style  of  to-day;"  "1 
have  read  the  last  chapters  of  Deuteronomy  ;  the  death 
of  Moses  is  to  me  as  though  my  father  had  just  died; 
having  been  with  Moses  so  long  in  reading  his  five 
books,  I  hate  to  leave  him." 

In  the  close  of  his  sixty-sixth  year  he  writes:  "  I  feel 
that  I  must  do  better  in  my  studies  than  I  did  last  week. 
Oh  God,  keep  Thou  me  in  my  ministerial  labors."  In 
the  same  year  he  says,"My  reading  this  winter  outside  of 
the  Bible  is  in  Home's  Introduction ;  the  study  of  the 
Bible  is  the  work  of  a  man's  life,  the  loorkP  "Oh,  what 
a  treat  it  is  to  me  to  have  time  to  think  and  rove  men- 
tally in  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  here  are  pleasant  flowers, 


258  HENRY    KUMLEE,    JK,, 

delicious  fruits  and  precious  mines  of  pure  gold."  In 
his  seventy-first  year  he  writes,  "  read,  as  is  m}^  custom, 
two  chapters  in  the  Old  and  two  in  the  New  Testament," 
and  so  the  record  goes  on  to  the  end  of  his  life,  "When 
old  age  comes  upon  him,  and  he  is  no  longer  able  for 
work,  his  diary  still  speaks  of  the  weather  and  his  con- 
tinued interest  in  God's  word. 

Mr.  Kumler  was  a  very  industrious  man,  both  men- 
tally and  physically.  It  was  necessary  in  the  days  of 
his  boyhood  that  he  should  learn  to  work,  and  he  never 
forgot  the  trade.  He  had  no  patience  with  lazy  people. 
He  was  no  sooner  home  from  one  of  his  preaching 
tours,  until  his  coat  was  off  and  he  was  at  work,  look- 
ing after  the  interests  of  his  family.  Again  and  again 
do  we  light  on  such  statements  as  the  following :  "  Cut 
wood  and  split  rails ; "  "  labored  hard  for  my  family 
and  to  have  to  give  to  the  needy  ;  manual  labor  is  hard 
when  not  accustomed  to  it,  but  makes  sweet  bread;". 
"  still  at  hard  labor ; "  "  was  in  the  harvest  field  ; 
cradled  a  little,  bound  a  httle  and  raked  the  balance 
of  the  time;"  " quarr^'ing  stone  and  spent  the  night 
with  the  sick ; "  "  paving  with  stone  ;  this  world  is 
full  of  care  and  trouble,  glad  that  it  is  not  forever;" 
'•pruning  apple  trees  and  reading  Goldsmith;" 
"  helped  my  wife  to  shear  the  sheep." 

July  18,  1865,  when  sixty-four  years  of  age,  he 
writes.  "  I  am  going  out  with  my  wife  to  pull  flax, 
this  I  do  not  like  to  do  in  my  old  days,  but  cotton 
wear  is  too  dear,'  and  my  wife  wants  something  to  do." 
On  the  27th,  he  writes :  "  I  am  aiding  my  wife  in  prepar- 
ing flax,  as  she  must  always  have  something.  This  I 
name  for  example's  sake,  as  the  present  character  of  the 
ministry  is  to  do  little  and  want  big  pay." 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED   BRETHREN    IN   CHRIST.    259 

In  1868,  when  his  wife  was  seriousl}'  ill,  and  hii-ed 
help  hard  to  obtain,  he  says  :  "In  the  morning  I  first 
wash  and  clothe  my  afflicted  wife,  then  I  build  a  fire 
and  get  breakfast  and  wash  the  dishes,  make  the  bed 
and  sweep  the  house,  this  takes  me  about  two  and  a 
half  hours.'' 

July  15,  1858,  he  writes:  "  I  was  at  what  is  called  a 
picnicy  but  there  was  no  enjoyment  to  me  in  view  of 
the  folly  exhibited  by  the  members  in  the  plays."  This 
moved  him  to  express  himself  in  the  Telescope  on  "Pic- 
nics," which  he  did  after  this  fashion  :  "  Before  we 
were  on  the  ground  twenty  minutes  little  painted 
sticks  and  hoops,  and  paddles,  and  ropes  for  swing- 
ing and  forming  circles  were  on  hand,  and,  sin- 
gular to  tell,  those  who  were  very  timid  at  class  and 
prayer  meeting  took  the  lead  in  these  plays.  These 
timid  souls  were  so  eager  for  play  that  they  forgot  to 
ask  their  pastor  first  to  pray,  and  afterward,  when  called 
on,  was  told  to  make  a  short  prayer,  which  he  did. 
Will  some  lono;-headed  and  clear-sighted  Christian 
philosopher  please  show  the  difference  between  ancient 
Israel  dancing  in  their  good  humor  around  the  golden  calf 
and  Christian  congregations  romping,  running,  tumbling, 
laughing,  sweating  in  chase  after  a  gum-elastic  ball, 
throwing  and  catching  hoops,  catching,  kissing,  slap- 
ping, hoi*se-shoe  pitching,  just  like  silly  sinners  do?" 

In  1863  he  was  much  troubled  over  a  graduate  of 
Otterbein  University  who  did  not  see  the  same  horror  in 
physical  recreations  that  Mr.  Kumler  saw.  "  If  our 
schools  have  this  kind  of  an  effect  on  young  people,  even 
church  members,  then  I  am  sorry  I  ever  gave  the  8500 
which  I  gave  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  education; 
but,  alas,  we  have  a  lot  of  pleasure-loving  young  men, 


260  HENKY    KUMLER,    JR., 

who  are  now  taking  the  lead.  They  are  more  concerned 
for  big  salaries  than  to  lead  souls  to  Christ."  In 
1868  he  writes:  "  I  have  concluded  to  let  my  beard  ^row 
below  my  mouth,  as  a  visible  monument  that  I  have  re- 
solved to  be  more  than  ever  dead  to  the  world,  as  to 
its  rudiments,  pride  and  idolatry,  and  not  to  shun 
as  much  as  formerly  the  declaring  the  whole  counsel  of 
God." 

It  is  said  that  many  years  ago  a  circus  came  to 
Lewisburg,  Ohio,  and  that  for  many  miles  around  the 
people  flocked  to  see  it,  and  among  these  came  some 
United  Brethren,  who  expected  to  take  dinner  with 
Brother  Kumler,  as  they  had  been  accustomed  to  do  on 
big  meeting  occasions,  when  his  hospitable  door  was 
always  open.  All  Lewisburg  was  astir  to  see  them 
come  in.  When  the  first  tap  of  the  drum  was 
heard  Mr.  Kumler  locked  all  his  doors,  put  down  the 
window  blinds  and  gave  strict  orders  to  his  family 
that  no  dinner  was  to  be  provided  that  day  for  any 
one  who  came  to  town  to  see  the  circus.  Some  of  the 
brethren  who  came  to  his  house  that  day  for  dinner 
went  away  very  much  disappointed. 

All  this  seems  surprising  to  us  on  the  ]3art  of  a  man 
who  had  such  a  sunny  nature,  such  a  genial  temper- 
ament and  with  such  a  vein  of  humor  running  through 
his  writings,  his  words  and  his  acts.  It  was  not  be- 
cause he  did  not  enjoy  innocent  fun,  but,  because,  in  his 
judgment,  all  these  things  tended  to  detract  from  the 
earnestness  of  a  Christian  life.  He  was  thoroughly 
conscientious,  but,  as  we  think,  unnecessarily  severe  in 
his  judgment. 

Mr.  Kumler  was  an  able  preacher.  At  times  his 
congregation  would  bo  in  tears,  as  they  listened  to  his 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN   IN   CHRIST.     261 

heart-searching  appeals.  He  felt  the  hand  of  God 
upon  him,  and  he  preached  for  eternity.  He  writes, 
September  26,  1857 :  "  The  work  of  the  ministry  is  aw- 
fully solemn.  Oh,  God,  who  is  sufficient  to  point  sinfully 
inclined  man  to  God  ? "  At  times  a  little  vein  of  humor 
would  crop  out,  but  he  was  usually  serious,  appealing 
to  the  heart  and  judgment  as  a  man  sent  of  God.  Kot- 
withstanding  all  this  power  he  had  very  moderate 
views  of  his  own  ability.  It  is  surprising  how  much 
self-depreciation  he  manifests.  As  we  have  run 
through  his  diary  we  have  again  and  again  been  struck 
with  his  severe  criticisms  of  himself. 

In  1849,  May  6th,  he  says :  "In  exhortation  I  offended 
some  of  the  sons  of  Belial;"  "had some  good  liberty 
at  Lewisburg ;  "  "  hard  rowing  ;"  "  was  abused  on  the 
street  this  morning  (July  9th)  by  one  of  the  votaries  of 
Jezebel  for  preaching  against  spiritual  fornication  and 
idolatry ;  if  he  feels  as  comfortable  as  I  do,  I  wonder ;" 
"  had  grace  in  preaching ;"  "  had  a  middling  good 
time ;"  "  have  resolved  to  be  more  pointed  in  my 
preaching  ; "  "  preached  the  dedication  sermon  ;  hard 
rowing  indeed  ;  rode  fifty-two  miles.  Some  one  prom- 
ised to  pay  me  for  this  trip,  but  not  even  my  expenses 
were  paid."  "  Here  I  was  publicly  reproached  because 
I  attacked  Masonry,  Baalam  and  the  devil." 

November  30th — "  My  language  was  objected  to  as 
being  vulgar ;  man  is  very  nice,  but  not  pious."  "  I 
exhorted  and  made  the  devil  angry."  "  To-day  I  am 
studying  for  the  Sabbath ;  the  work  of  preaching  is 
too  serious  not  to  have  much  reflection."  "  Both  ser- 
mons were  poor ;  I  am  ashamed  that  I  have  preached 
so  long  and  so  poorh^"  "  Good  text  but  poor  sermon  ; 
I  had  to  hunt  my  way  through  the  text."     "  Why  do  I 


262  HENKY    KUMLEE,    JE., 

preach  SO  many  poor  sermons?"  "Exhorted  Brother 

to  church  duty,  but  you  can  not  make  a  cow  cHmb 
like  a  squirrel." 

August  2d  indicates  a  dreary  day :  "  Preached 
three  times  to-day,  and  all  ver}^  poor ;  oh,  how  poor !  I 
felt  to-day  as  though  I  should  quit  preaching ;  too  AA'-orth- 
less  to  be  heard.  Why  am  I  so  ignorant  ?"  He  was  not 
a  careless  shepherd  of  the  Master's  sheep,  as  the  follow- 
ing will  show :  "  Oh,  God,  have  mercy  on  me  as 
minister  of  this  (Dayton)  congregation.  Thou  hast 
waked  me  up  and  revived  me.  I  am  troubled  about 
this  people's  spiritual  condition.  We  must  have  Thy 
help  or  we  perish." 

In  1858,  March  15th,  there  comes  a  better  feeling: 
"To-day  I  feel  as  though  I  could  reprove  all  sin  to  the 
face.  Never  did  I  see  disobedience  to  God's  law  in  the 
same  abhorrent  light." 

March  11th — "I  could  not  think  of  much,  nor  could 
I  tell  what  I  did  think." 

In  1862  he  says :  "Among  my  greatest  troubles  is 
that  I  can  not  preach  better.  I  love  to  preach,  but  I 
wish  to  see  better  results  follow  my  labors.  If  in  this 
I  am  faulty.  Lord  show  it  to  me."  Some  questions  he 
looked  at  with  the  coolness  of  a  philosopher.  "  When 
at  conference  I  was  on  the  whole  treated  by  the 
members  as  though  I  was  unworthy  my  position  in  the 
church  as  bishop.  Well,  this  is  good  for  me.  It 
teaches  me  that  I  am  not  yet  dead  to  sin."  I  preached 
from  Heb.  iii.  19.  Such  darkness  as  settled  down  on 
my  mind  during  the  sermon  I  have  not  experienced  in 
the  last  two  3^ears." 

When  in  his  sixty-fourth  year  he  prays:  "  Oh  God 
make  me  a  good  preacher  yet,  amen."     "  I  can  not 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP   UNITED   BEETHEEN    IN   CHEIST.     263 

preach,  with  that  good  effect  on  my  hearers  as  I  think 
a  man  of  my  age  and  experience  should  do.  If  I 
thouD-ht  I  was  not  to  blame  in  this  defect  then  I  would 
be  satisfied."  "  I  am  a  debtor  to  God  for  His  great 
and  exceeding  mercy  in  my  commission  and  call  to  the 
ministry.  I  often  wonder  that  God  could  use  such  an 
ordinary  utensil  in  His  house,  and  yet  if  any  one  else 
should  call  me  ordinary  it  would  tempt  me.  Oh,  what 
is  man  ?"  At  the  close  of  this  year,  he  says  :  "  I  am 
praying  and  covenanting  with  God  that  I  may  not  be 
so  discontented  in  view  of  my  poor  preaching.  I  often 
feel  miserable  and  badly  ashamed  that  I  can  not  preach 
better  after  having  preached  nearly  fifty  years,  but  in 
this  I  may  be  wrong.  I  will  rest  and  do  my  duty." 
The  following  year  he  writes :  "  I  am  relieved  from 
that  ugl}^  spirit  with  which  I  have  been  plagued  very 
much,  namely,  a  dissatisfaction  with  my  best  efforts  in 
preaching  and  prayer  and  every  other  duty."  Later  on 
he  says :  "  I  am  a  myster}^  to  myself ;  I  am  dissatisfied 
with  myself  as  to  my  preaching.  There  appears  to  be  no 
attraction  in  it.  Others  care  nothing  for  it.  This  may  be 
my  fault."  In  his  sixty-ninth  year  he  writes:  "  I  am  anx- 
iously inquiring  of  God  in  prayer  to  know  why  I  am  so 
barren  in  my  preaching  and  then  afterward  so  awfully 
tormented  about  my  poor  preaching  by  refiections 
against  myself,  when  at  the  same  time  I  do  my  best  in 
preparation  for  the  pulpit  by  thinking  and  prayer  and 
reading."  His  tact  never  deserted  him.  In  1870  he  says : 
"  In  the  morning  I  was  injured  by  church  sleepers.  I 
stopjied  preaching,  and  had  a  verse  sung  which  got  the 
people  awake."  In  1873  he  cries  out:  •'  Oh,  God,  pity 
a  poor  old  preacher  that  has  not  the  power  in  preach- 
ing which  he  should  have."     "  Preached  from  Hebrews 


264  HENKY   KUMLEK,    JK. 

xii.j  28,  a  great  text,  but  age  is  very  manifest,"  and  so 
it  was.  His  best  work  was  behind  him,  the  reward  was 
yet  to  come. 

About  the  year  1843  a  conference  of  the  United 
Brethren  preachers  was  held  in  Wood  county,  Ohio. 
At  that  time  there  were  no  railroads  nor  telegraphs 
nor  turnpikes  in  that  section.  At  the  season  of  the 
year  when  the  conference  was  held  the  roads  were 
deep  in  mud  and  water.  Some  went  on  foot,  but  most 
of  the  preachers  had  horses.  They  had  "leggin's"  and 
saddlebags,  wore  home-spun  clothes,  shirts  without 
starch,  were  clean  shaved,  and  combed  their  hair 
straight  down.  At  this  conference  was  a  young  man 
of  eighteen  years,  who,  forty  years  after,  gives  his  mem- 
ory of  the  event :  "  The  preachers  were  all  on  tip-toe  to 
see  the  new  bishop  from  the  Miami  Valley.  He  was  in 
his  prime;  his  hair  was  sprinkled  with  gray;  his 
voice  was  clear  and  strong,  and  his  faculties  at  their 
best.  During  the  year  past  two  flaming  evangelists 
had  died  in  a  blaze  of  glory.  Kumler  preached  a 
funeral  sermon  from  Paul's  grand  utterance,  '  I  have 
fought  a  good  fight.*  The  congregation,  which  filled 
the  house  and  overflowed  into  the  adjacent  grounds, 
was  shaken  as  with  a  mighty  wind.  Tears  flowed  like 
rain,  shouts  of  joy  re-echoed  through  the  surrounding 
forests,  and  the  word  glory  fairly  burst  from  pent-up 
hearts.  I  see  Brother  Kumler  now,  with  his  fine, 
honest  eyes  lifted  to  heaven,  and  hear  him  say,  as  if  it 
were  but  an  hour  ago  :  '  Farewell,  Brother  Martin ;  fare- 
well. Brother  Lillibridge;  we  will  meet  you  on  the 
other  shore ! '  I  doubt  whether  a  stronger  sermon  was 
ever  preached." 

He  was  a  man  of  deep  religious  exj^erience.     At 


ELEVENTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BRETHREN   IN   CHRIST.     265 

times  lie  was  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  and 
occasionally  in  the  valley  beiow.  He  tried  faithfully 
to  study  his  own  heart.  He  held  himself  rigidly  to  the 
requirements  of  the  gospel.  Indeed,  if  there  was 
any  difference,  he  was  more  charitable  to  other  sinners 
than  he  was  to  himself.  To  him  the  devil  was  no 
myth.  He  met  him  almost  daily,  and  had  fierce  strug- 
gles with  him,  but  he  usually  came  out  of  the  contest 
victorious.  He  prays,  "  O  Lord,  give  me  a  wise  head 
and  a  loving  heart  to  be  kind  to  my  enemies."  "  I  am 
under  temptations.  It  appears  to  me  that  I  am  mis- 
treated very  much,  and  my  country  too,  and  that  by 
my  brethren  in  the  church,  but  I  will  balance  it  by 
thinking  that  perhaps  I  have  mistreated  others  as 
much."  "  I  have  reason  to  be  thankful  that  I  have 
enemies  enough  to  keep  me  down."  August  20,  1853, 
he  writes :  "  I  am  still  afflicted  ;  it  may  be  unto  death 
or  life,  I  know  not.  If  God  has  more  work  for  me  in 
the  other  division  of  His  church  than  in  this  I  am  satis- 
fied.    The  will  of  the  Lord  is  always  the  best." 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1853  he  bewails  his  spirit- 
ual condition,  and  renews  his  covenant  in  the  following 
earnest  language  :  "  I  have  at  times  no  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures.  I  can  not  preach  any  at  all.  This 
morning  I  most  devoutly  enter  into  a  new  covenant 
with  God,  through  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord,  to  live  more 
cautiously  and  more  devoutly  than  ever  before ;  to  read 
and  study  the  Word  more  thoroughly  as  a  light  to  my 
feet  and  a  lamp  to  my  path ;  to  devote  more  time  to 
secret  prayer ;  to  take  more  pains  to  consult  God  in 
regard  to  all  my  doings,  and  to  do  more  to  rescue  per- 
ishing sinners  from  hell.  In  doing  this  I  wiU  not 
trouble  myself  so  much  as  heretofore  about  that  which 


266  HENRY    KUMLER,    JR., 

I  can  not  help.  If  God  is  pleased  to  leave  me  to  myself 
in  preaching,  I  will  '  tug  on '  as  well  as  I  can.  I  have 
had  clear  evidence  that  I  was  called  to  the  ministry." 

.His  anxiety  for  his  people  is  shown  in  his  record  of 
February  19,  1858  :  "I  never  had  my  faith  in  prayer 
so  hard  tested  as  at  this  time.  I  have,  perhaps,  never 
taken  the  pains  in  prayer  before  as  I  have  for  a  good 
revival  in  Dayton  congregation,  with  but  little  good 
effected.     Oh,  I  am  troubled." 

Kovember  19th  —  "I  was  reading,  praying  and  sob- 
bing all  day  over  my  hard  heart.  I  preached  in  the 
evening,  with  but  little  effect." 

September  29,  1860  —  "This  was  a  day  of  trials 
to  me  ;  almost  everything  looks  dreary.  Wickedness 
is  daring ;  professors  are  slumbering,  apparently  in  a 
state  of  ease.  The  few  who  are  awake  look  to  me  as 
an  exception  to  the  general  rule  in  Christendom.  Am 
I  tempted  ?     Are  not  these  facts  ? " 

The  congregations  were  not  always  as  helpful  as 
they  might  have  been,  and  at  one  time  he  cries  out, 
"  Oh,  Lord,  wilt  Thou  give  me  strength  not  to  be 
tempted  by  the  devil  and  sleepy  brethren  sitting  before 
me  during  preaching,  and  fast  asleep  before  I  read  my 
text  ?  It  is  so  insulting  to  common  sense  to  have  men 
sleep  while  I  am  trying  to  preach ! "  "  Oh,  God,  grant 
me  a  right  heart,  that  I  may  love  afflictions  and  my 
enemies  too." 

He  reaches  his  seventy-first  year,  and  the  battle 
against  him  and  against  the  temptations  of  his  own 
evil  heart  still  goes  on,  but  he  is  constantly  the  victor 
through  Him  in  whom  he  has  trusted.  In  1873  he 
writes  :  "  I  am  thirsting  for  the  love  of  God  and  for 
that  power  which  does  qualify  one  for  the  ministry." 


ELEVENTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BBETHKEN   IN   CHKIST.     267 

"  I  am  hungering  and  thirsting  for  righteousness.  I 
feel  at  times  as  though  all  the  storms  were  reserved  for 
me."  In  looking  ahead  as  to  what  he  shall  do,  there 
is  no  better  one  to  guide  than  He  who  has  led  thus  far, 
and  he  cries  out,  "Oh,  my  Savior  be  so  kind  as  to  con- 
trol my  temporal  hereafter  as  to  where  I  shall  spend  my 
old  and  local  life."  When  seventy-seven  years  of  age, 
he  writes :  '*  I  am  on  the  Lord's  side  and  hate  every 
worldly  conformity."  "  Oh,  Lord,  grant  unto  me  a  lov- 
ing heart,  to  love  all  my  enemies,  and  the  enemies  of 
the  church,"  At  the  close  of  the  same  year,  when  his 
itinerant  life  has  almost  ended  he  writes,  "  I  have 
glorious  hope  that  I  shall  soon  land  on  the  shores  of 
light." 

Mr.  Kumler  was  a  very  ardent  believer  in  infant 
baptism,  and  contended  for  it  most  earnestly.  He  says 
of  his  own  baptism:  "  In  this  ordinance  I  was  no  doubt 
placed  into  a  gracious  condition,  which  accounts  for 
my  early  conviction  and  conversion,"  which  occurred 
when  he  was  about  fourteen  years  of  age.  He  was 
both  witty  and  sarcastic,  and  this  at  times  served  him  a 
good  purpose.  At  one  time  he  was  engaged  in  a  public 
discussion  with  a  minister  of  another  church  upon 
"  infant  baptism  and  immersion."  His  opponent  kept 
pressing  him  somewhat  defiantly  for  a  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  "  on  the  subject.  In  an  instant  Mr.  Kumler  was 
on  his  feet,  and  calling  to  his  opponent,  said,  "  will  the 
brother  have  it  right  now?"  The  answer  was  in  the 
affirmative.  The  audience  trembled  at  Kumler's  rash- 
ness. They  feared  he  had  blundered.  With  an  inde- 
scribable pointing  of  the  finger,  he  said,  "  Why  sir,  you 
know  the  place,  the  very  chapter  and  verse  where  it 
says  '  Thus  saith  the  Lord '  for  immersion  ?  Yes,  weU 


268  HENEY   KUMLEK,    JR., 

it  is  just  the  next  verse  under  that.''''  He  escaped  a 
difficulty  by  his  quick  wit  and  won  his  audience.  He 
was  master  of  the  situation. 

While  severe  at  times  in  his  judgment,  he  was  gen- 
erous and  broad-minded.  In  his  diary  for  May  15, 1851, 
we  find  this  pecufiar  entry :  "  Reading,  writing  and 
thinking,  but  often  interrupted.  Attended  prayer  meet- 
ing ;  women  grayed  like  inenP  August  16,  1858,  he 
writes  concerning  a  union  prayer  meeting  in  Dayton  : 
"  I  have  been,  and  still  am,  displeased  with  the  restraint 
put  on  women  in  worship." 

December  2d — "  The  Avomen  are  yet  silent." 

In  the  Telescope  for  December  18,  1858,  we  find 
the  following  from  his  pen  :  "  That  women  were 
not  included  in  the  priesthood  of  the  Jewish  church 
nor  in  the  apostofic  ministry  is  evident.  This  I  un- 
derstand as  fundamental  evidence  that  women  are 
not  intended  to  have  part  in  the  regidarly  ordained  min- 
istry of  the  church.  *  *  But  the  mention  of  Miriam 
as  a  prophetess  and  Deborah,  and  Anna,  who  spoke  of 
Christ,  and  of  Philip's  four  daughters,  and  the  daugh- 
ters who  in  the  last  days  should  prophesy,  and  of  the 
women  who  were  directed  to  prophesy  with  their  heads 
uncovered,  yes,  and  to  pray,  too,  is  proof  conclusive  to 
my  mind  at  least,  that  the  duty  of  women  in  the  as- 
-sembly  goes  beyond  that  of  singing,  sighing,  sobbing 
and  looking  on.  They  are  divinely  authorized  to  be 
helpers  to  the  regular  ministry  by  their  prayers,  testi- 
mony, and  visiting,  especially  the  sick.  *  *  But  this 
conflicts  in  no  way  with  the  public  devotional  exercises 
of  women." 

He  had  some  peculiar  views  on  the  matter  of  edu- 
cation.    He  was  not  opposed  to  mental  training,  but 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST.    269 

only  to  certain  practices  which  seemed  to  him  to  be  in 
opposition  to  the  gospel.  In  1850  he  writes  a  subscrip- 
tion and  heads  it  with  $100  for  an  academy  at  Lewis- 
burg,  Ohio.  In  1851  he  is  a  member  of  a  committee 
to  locate  a  seminary  authorized  by  the  Miami  Confer- 
ence. October  3d,  he  "  went  to  Seven-Mile  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  trustees  for  building  a  college ; 
made  arrangements  for  the  collection  of  $21,000. 
July  7,1852  the  board  of  "Evergreen  College,"  met 
at  Seven-Mile  in  the  interests  of  the  college,  but  not 
much  was  done. 

He  had  the  fear  which  many  of  the  fathers  enter- 
tained, that  a  college  training  would  drive  us  into  for- 
malit}^,  and  that,  instead  of  looking  to  God  to  call  men 
into  the  ministry,  we  should  have  men  entering  it  simply 
as  a  profession.  The  experience  of  other  churches  shows 
there  was  a  measure  of  reason  for  this  opinion.  In 
1856  he  writes :  "  This  year  I  have  been  fully  con- 
vinced that  an  educated  ministry  is  not  God's  choice. 
The  ministry  is  a  very  different  business  from  law  and 
medicine.  Souls  are  not  led  to  God  on  human  princi- 
ples. To  lead  a  soul  to  God  he  must  be  humbled  ;  but 
human  wisdom  puffeth  up.  All  the  knowledge  im- 
parted by  man  will  not  wake  up  a  sleeping  sinner. 
Every  conversion  is  a  miracle.  It  is  a  wonder  too 
high  for  human  thought.  God  will  not  give  His  honor 
to  men.  If  learned  men  were  God's  choice,  then  the 
power  of  God  would  not  be  seen." 

In  the  Missionary  Telescope  for  1859  some  one 
asked,  "  Is  there  not  some  one  among  the  many  students 
now  in  our  colleges  willing  to  go  to  Africa  as  a  mis- 
sionary ? "  This  was  too  much  for  Mr.  Kumler,  who 
responded  :    "  Depraved  humanity  has  always  treated 


270  HENRY  KTJMLEE,   JR., 

Christ  with,  contempt  in  this  important  matter  of  turn- 
ing away  from  tlie  Lord  of  the  harvest  and  looking  to 
colleges  for  an  efficient  ministry.  Has  He  given  to  col- 
leges the  prerogative  of  supplying  missionaries  ?  *  * 
Understanding  as  I  do  the  wicked  tendency  of  man  to 
look  to  institutions  of  learning  for  an  efficient  ministry, 
instead  of  praying  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  He 
might  thrust  out  men  of  His  own  choosing,  and  that  the 
masses  out  of  the  church  are  treating  Christ  with  con- 
tempt, and  trust  in  the  arm  of  flesh  ;  and  as  I  have  my- 
self suffered  my  eyes  to  turn  somewhat  toward  colleges 
in  by-gone  years,  hnt  now  have  repented  and  found  par- 
don; I  have  consented  in  humility  to  enter  publicly  my 
protest  against  the  high-handed  insult  of  looking  to 
any  other  source  whatever  but  Christ  only  for  an 
effective  ministry.  This  ma}^  cause  some  to  laugh,  but 
to  me  it  has  caused  tears.  "Written  as  a  recantation  of 
former  mistakes  by  your  brother  and  fellow-laborer  in 
Christ's  harvest,  Henry  Kumler," 

He  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  what  was  termed 
the  manual  labor .  method  of  college  management. 
He  wanted  the  students  to  have  sound  bodies  as  well 
as  cultured  brains,  and  above  all  not  to  grow  up 
with  a  dislike  for  labor.  The  way  to  do  this  was  to 
require  them  to  labor  with  their  hands  every  day. 
For  years  this  was  debated  pro  and  con  at  the  meetings 
of  the  trustees  of  Otterbein  University,  and  the  dis- 
cussions growing  out  of  it  almost  wrecked  the  institu- 
tion. Kumler  is  at  the  meeting  of  1858,  and  is  in 
favor  of  the  system,  but  thinks  that  others  are  not  so 
in  fact  but  only  in  appearances.  He  expresses  himself 
through  the  Telescope  in  the  following  plain  language  :■ 
"  Our  last  meeting  as  trustees  of  Otterbein  University 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP   UNITED   BRETHREN   IN   CHRIST.    271 

most  fully  convinced  me  that  the  distinct  idea  of  manual 
labor  being  made  the  student's  daily  study  as  much  as 
his  other  studies  is  not  entertained  in  a  kindly  manner 
by  a  majority  of  the  trustees.  *  *  *  The  idea  that 
every  student  must  be  free  to  labor  or  not  to  labor 
as  he  may  wish  to  do,  is  now  looked  at  by  the  writer 
as  a  sure  method  of  most  effectually  uprooting  every 
vestige  of  manual  labor  as  a  distinct  feature  of  our 
college.  Manual  labor  exists  at  Otterbein  on  ]pajper 
and  in  resolutions.  If  our  people  will  have  it  this  way, 
let  them  speak  out.  I  am  sure  more  has  been  done  to 
glide  the  only  practical  plan  overhoard  than  to  carry  it 
into  effect.  The  above  plain  hints  are  intended  to 
disabuse  the  public  mind.  I  have  not  said  that  I  will 
not  aid  in  the  future." 

"  Yours,  Henry  Kumler, 
^'■Professor  of  the  science  of  true  honesty.'^ 
Time  modified  his  views  on  some  of  these  ques- 
tions. He  was  for  years  a  trustee,  and,  if  we  mistake 
not,  at  one  time  was  an  agent  of  Otterbein  University. 
He  gave  money  for  its  support,  but  this  did  not 
prevent  him  from  freely  giving  his  opinion  as  to  its 
management.  "When  seventy  years  of  age  he  was 
invited  "  to  take  hold  of  Lebanon  Valley  College,  and 
pay  the  debt,  but  the  debt  is  that  which  I  am  afraid  of. 
I  am  also  appealed  to  in  behalf  of  the  theological 
school."  What  a  sight  it  would  have  been  to  the  old 
fathers  if  they  could  have  seen  Henry  Kumler  solicit- 
ing money  for  a  theological  seminary !  He  accepted 
the  agency,  went  to  work  for  it,  visited  conferences, 
solicited  members,  and  gave  the  most  of  his  time  to  it 
during  the  year  1872.  He  did  efficient  work,  not 
only  in  securing  money,  but  in  allaying  the  prejudices 


272  HENKY   KUMLER,   JE., 

of  the  older  people.  Whatever  many  of  them  may 
have  thought  in  the  past,  what  Henry  Kumler  could 
endure  and  labor  for  could  not  in  the  nature  of  the 
case  be  a  bad  thing. 

He  was  thoroughly  loval  to  the  Government  during 
the  late  Civil  War.  His  diary  at  this  time  is  full  of  ref- 
erences to  it,  and  some  of  them  seem  almost  prophetic. 
In  1856  he  writes:  "I  read  the  news  from  Kansas, 
until  I  felt  provoked  at  our  Government  for  being 
so  wicked  and  cruel.  I  am  now  looking  for  God's 
power  in  the  destruction  of  American  slavery."  Au- 
gust 15,  1861 :  "  I  am  constrained  to  look  with  sorrow 
on  the  affairs  of  our  countr}^  The  rebellion  in  the 
South  will  result  in  the  abolition  of  slavery,  but 
bloody."  In  1865  he  writes  :  "  Quarterly  conference 
was  peaceable  because  the  copperhead  snake  was  not 
permitted  to  bite,  but  she  did  show  her  forked  tongue." 

For  years  he  was  the  champion  of  the  church 
against  secret  societies.  Both  in  public  and  private  he 
gave  them  hard  blows,  as  the  columns  of  the  Telescope 
will  bear  witness.  He  let  no  opportunity  go  by  W'hen 
he  might  stab  them.  He  had  but  little  tenderness  or 
sympathy  for  men  who  could  consent  to  become  clergy- 
men in  an  anti-secrecy  church,  and  then  directly  or 
indirectly  give  aid  or  comfort  to  these  orders.  Many 
of  his  troubles  grew  out  of  conflicts  with  these  men. 
His  pra3^er  of  March  25,  ]  865,  was  the  prayer  of  his 
life :  "  My  prayer  to  God  is  that  He  will  mildew  all 
wicked  purposes,  especially  oath-bound  secrec3^  which, 
strictly  speaking,  is  of  the  devil,  and  good  men  are 
seduced  into,  and  sympathize  with  the  delusion.  Oh, 
God,  for  Israel's  sake,  hasten  the  time  when  this  de- 
lusion shall  be  exposed." 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP   UNITED    BRETHREN    IN   CHRIST.    273 

He  was  elected  bishop  at  the  General  Conference 
of  1841,  which  met  at  Dresbach's  Meeting  House,  Pick- 
away county,  Ohio.  He  was  then  about  forty  years 
of  age,  and  in  his  prime.  He  saw  at  this  time  the  un- 
usual sight  of  father  and  son  bishops  at  the  same  time 
in  the  same  church.  At  the  conference  in  Cincinnati, 
in  1857,  he  was  elected  German  bishop,  but  before  the 
conference  closed  he  resigned,  and  J.  Kussell  was 
elected  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  day  after  his  election 
he  writes :  "  Oh,  how  flat  I  felt  sitting  with  the  bishops. 
Oh,  God,  give  me  a  new  baptism."  At  the  conference 
which  met  in  Westerville,  Ohio,  in  1861,  he  was 
elected  German  bishop  again.  He  was  present,  and  a 
member  of  the  conference  Avhich  met  at  Western  Iowa 
in  1865.  On  the  17th  of  May  he  writes  :  "  Oh,  Lord, 
I  am  getting  old  and  more  outspoken  than  is  now 
fashionable,  by  which  I  must  be  unpopular  with  the 
younger  clergy.  Be  pleased  to  fix  my  work  Thyself." 
On  the  19th  he  again  writes :  "  I  am  now  free  from 
all  church  offices.  I  praise  God  that  I  have  been  free 
from  an  undue  desire  for  office.  God  has  made  me  a 
hishopfoi'  lifeP 

The  last  record  in  his  diary  was  made  November 
19,  1880.  For  some  months  previous  he  had  been  fail- 
ing. From  that  time  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
August  19,  1882,  he  read  but  little  and  took  but  little 
interest  in  the  affairs  around  him.  He  was  suffering 
from  a  stroke  of  paralysis.  Rev.  C.  Schneider,  pastor 
of  the  Wayne  Street  Church,  to  which  Mr.  Kumler  be- 
longed, preached  a  sermon  from  Matthew  xxv.  21, 
in  the  German  language.  Bishop  Glossbrenner  being 
present  spoke  with  tenderness,  and  paid  a  worthy 
tribute  to  the  honored  dead.    Looking  down  upon  the 


274:  HENRY    KUMLERj  JR., 

prostrate  form,  he    said,  "Farewell,   Brother  Henry, 
we  will  meet  again  in  the  morning." 

The  remains  were  taken  to  Lewisburg,  Ohio,  for 
burial,  where  the  deceased  had  lived  for  so  many  j^ears, 
and  services  were  held  in  the  United  Brethren  church 
there.  Dr.  L.  Davis,  his  life-long  friend,  preached  an 
able  and  appropriate  sermon  from  the  text,  "  I  have 
fought  a  good  fight,"  etc. 

A  friend  who  knew  him  well  thus  writes  of  him : 
"  No  better  man  ever  Uved  than  Henry  Kumler,  Jr.  He 
was  always  a  full,  sound,  hearty  Christian.  He  w^as  as 
humble  as  a  child  and  as  tender  and  loving  as  a  mother. 
No  good  man  could  look  into  his  full,  clear,  honest 
eyes  without  loving  him.  In  private  and  in  public,  in 
the  family  circle  and  abroad,  in  and  out  of  office,  he 
was  the  same  pure,  warm-hearted,  true  man.  When  I 
first  knew  him  he  was  a  bishop.  It  was  about  the  year 
1843.  His  sermons  in  those  days  were  wonderfully 
excellent.  He  had  little  learning,  except  Bible  learn- 
ing, but  he  could  preach.  He  gave  his  hearers  the  very 
marrow  of  the  Gospel.  I  think  his  great  strength  lay 
in  his  profound  sympathy  with  the  Gospel  as  it  is,  and 
his  genuine  love  for  man.  He  had  no  ambition  for 
office,  he  only  sought  the  souls  of  men.  My  good  old 
friend  had  a  rich  vein  of  humor  withal.  He  could 
tell  a  good  anecdote,  give  a  quaint  illustration,  wreathe 
a  cono'reoration  in  smiles  and  bedew  it  with  tears.  He 
was  an  old-fashioned  United  Brethren,  and  grew  some- 
what sad  when  the  new-fashioned  came  in.  When  I 
last  saw  him  he  was  tottering  on  the  edge  of  the  grave ; 
memory  gone,  and  only  the  smile  of  his  dear,  loving' 
eyes  remained  of  his  former  self.  As  I  think  of  him 
my  heart  melts  and  my  eyes  fill  with  tears.' 


ELEVENTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BKETHEEN    IN    OHEIST.    275 

As  we  have  gone  over  the  brief  sketches  which  he 
kept  during  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life  we  have 
formed  a  very  high  appreciation  of  his  character,  and 
have  learned  to  love  him.  We  have  found  him  so 
honest,  so  thoroughly  conscientious,  so  tender-hearted, 
so  loyal  to  his  church  and  his  God  that  he  wins  our 
admiration.  He  needed  no  organization  but  the  church. 
Worldly  organizations,  which  in  his  judgment  hindered 
the  church,  found  in  him  ah  honest  but  persistent  foe. 
He  was  a  thoroughly  radical  man,  and  believed  in  severe 
measures  when  they  were  necessary.  He  came  in  con- 
flict with  his  brethren  who  differed  from  him,  but  his 
diary  again  and  again  bears  record  of  his  forgiving- 
spirit.  No  one  appreciated  kindness  more  than  he,  and 
no  one  bestowed  it  where  deserved  with  a  kindlier 
grace.  Honest  himself,  he  hated  all  kinds  of  shams. 
To  stand  in  favor  with  God  and  to  win  souls  from  sin 
was  his  highest  ambition.  He  had  lived  upon  this  earth 
eighty-one  years,  eight  mouths  and  nine  days  when  the 
heavens  opened  and  he  was  not,  for  God  had  taken 
him. 

"  I  grudge  thee  this  right  hand  of  mine  ; 
I  grudge  thee  this  quick-beating  heart ; 
They  never  gave  me  coward  sign 
Nor  played  me  once  a  traitor's  part. 

"Ah  well,  friend  death — good  friend  thou  art  — 
I  shall  be  free,  when  thou  art  through  ! 
Take  all  there  is  —  take  hand  and  heart ; 
There  must  be,  somewliere,  work  to  do." 

H.  H. 


REV.  JOHN  COONS, 

TWELFTH  BISHOPOF  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


JOHN  COONS  was  of  ancient  German  extraction. 
His  name  in  its  present  form  is  Americanized.  His 
mother  was  a  light-haired  Saxon,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Howe.  These  parents  w^ere  poor  and  illiterate. 
John  was  born  near  Marti nsburg,  Ya.,  October  25, 1797. 
When  the  boy  was  about  ten  years  of  age,  the  family 
moved  to  Eoss  ^  County,  Ohio,  and  settled  there.  He 
was  brought  to  Christ  in  1821,  through  the  labors  of 
Jacob  Antrim,  who  had  come  from  Pennsylvania  and 
was  admitted  into  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren 
as  an  exhorter.  "  He  (Antrim)  was  a  good  singer,  an 
ingenious  preacher,  a  great  exhorter,  had  tact  and 
energy  and  buoyancy  of  spirit  which  bore  him  onward 
when  stronger  men  would  have  sunk  down  in  discour- 
agement and  despair.  In  the  Miami  Valley,  and  espe- 
cially in  Southern  Indiana,  he  was  remarkably  siiccess- 
ful  in  gathering  members  into  the  Church.  During  a 
long  service  of  years  he  was  an  unrivaled  revivalist." 
Soon  after  his  conversion,  Mr.  Coons  began  to  preach. 
In  1822  he  was  licensed  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel  and 
received  into  the  Miami  Conference  which  at  that  time 
included  the  entire  Church  west  of  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains. He  was  appointed  to  his  first  field  of  labor, 
"Washington  Circuit,  in  1823.  We  have  before  us  a 
copy  of  a  license  issued  in  Eoss  County,  January  16, 

377 


278 


JOHN   COONS, 


1824,  and  signed  by  Joseph  Hoffman,  certifying  that 
John  Coons  has  been  solemnly  ordained  to  the  office  of 
"  Deacon  "  in  the  Church.  Another  one,  issued  May  18, 
1826,  in  Highland  County,  Ohio,  and  signed  by  Henry 
Kumler  and  Christian  Newcomer,  certifying  that  he 
was  solemnly  ordained  by  them  to  the  office  of  "  Elder." 
In  the  year  182-1  he  traveled  Adelphia  Circuit.  In  1825 
Miami  Conference  Avas  divided,  that  part  embracing 
the  northern  portion  of  the  State  being  called  the  Scioto 
Conference,  and  with  this  part  he  identified  himself. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conferences  of  1829 
to  1833.  After  1836  he  spent  a  number  of  years  as  Pre- 
siding Elder.  In  183Y  he  was  again  a  delegate  to  Gen- 
eral Conference,  and  again  in  1841.  At  this  Confer- 
ence he  was  elected  Bishop.  He  filled  the  office  accept- 
ably for  four  years,  and  his  health  not  being  able  to 
endure  the  labors  attendant  upon  this  position,  he 
entered  again  upon  the  more  pleasant  and  less  labori- 
ous position  of  a  circuit  and  stationed  preacher. 

He  removed  to  the  Miami  Valley  in  1845,  and  on 
March  5,  1846,  he  joined  the  Miami  Conference  at  a 
session  held  at  Otterbein  Chapel,  Darke  County,  Ohio. 
He  remained  in  connection  with  this  body  until  his 
death.  During  his  connection  with  it  he  filled  many 
of  its  most  important  fields  of  labor. 

January  16,  1821,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Cath- 
erine Bookwalter,  by  whom  he  had  eight  children,  only 
three  of  whom  are  now  living.  One  of  these,  Joseph 
B.  Coons,  is  a  lawyer,  residing  at  Spring  Hill,  Kansas. 
Martha  married  Mr.  Pentzer,  a  Presb^^terian  clergyman, 
and  is  residing  some  place  in  Iowa.  Lucella,  who  is 
now  a  widow,  married  a  Mr.  Bartlett,  and  resides  in 
Dayton,  Ohio.     The  wife  and  mother  died  April  26, 


vr 


^W>^ 


TWELFTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BRETHREN   IN   CHRIST.     2Y9 

1840.  Some  time  after  her  death,  Mr.  Coons  married 
a  widow  lady  living  near  Circleville,  Eleanor  Windship 
by  name,  and  by  her  he  had  seven  children,  three  of 
whom  are  still  living  :  John  is  preaching  for  the  United 
Brethren  Church ;  Philip  is  in  the  express  business  at 
Springfield,  Ohio ;  while  one  daughter,  Ellen,  lives  near 
Germantown.  The  second.wife  survived  her  husband  a 
number  of  years. 

The  Bishop  died  at  his  residence  in  West  Dayton, 
on  Saturday,  August  7,  1869,  having  reached  the  ripe 
age  of  seventy-one  years  nine  months  and  twelve  days. 
He  had  long  been  afflicted  with  dyspepsia  and  finally 
died  with  .cancer  of  the  stomach.  For  some  time  before 
his  death  he  was  confined  to  his  bed.  He  loved  life ; 
to  him  it  was  precious.  During  the  early  part  of  his 
sickness  he  constantly  expressed  a  desire  to  live  longer; 
but  when  it  was  evident  to  him  that  he  could  not  re- 
cover, through  grace  he  triumphed.  Giving  directions 
concerning  the  place  and  manner  of  his  burial,  he  called 
his  famil}^  one  by  one  to  his  bed  and  bade  them  fare- 
well, as  though  death  was  one  of  the  most  common 
and  pleasant  facts  of  life,  with  the  declaration  that  he 
was  ready  to  be  offered  up,  and  with  a  prayer  on  his 
lips  for  the  coming  of  his  Savior,  he  entered  the 
Valley  of  Death  with  a  firm  and  fearless  step,  trusting 
in  Him  who  has  said,  "  Where  I  am  there  may  ye  be 
also."  His  remains  were  conveyed  to  Germantown, 
where  they  were  deposited  near  his  old  home. 

As  we  write,  there  lie  before  us  two  marriage  licen- 
ses, one  bearing  date  1838  and  the  other  1863.  They 
both  certify  on  the  back  as  to  the  marriages  having 
been  solemnized  by  John  Coons.  The  one  having  the 
earlier  date  is  in  a  large,  clear,  plain  handwriting,  indi- 


280  JOHN   COONS, 

eating  force  of  character,  painstaking,  thoughtfulness 
and  individuality ;  the  later  one  is  not  so  bold  and 
strong,  but  is  clear  and  distinct. 

His  life  as  a  Christian  man  was  irreproachable.  For 
nearly  half  a  century  he  was  a  professor  of  religion, 
and  not  a  single  charge  of  guilt  against  his  Christian 
life  is  recorded  to  blot  his  meniory.  He  lived  a  pure 
life  and  hated  with  a  settled  hatred  that  which  was  low 
and  little.  Yet  with  a  broad  charity  for  the  faults  of 
others,  he  was  warmly  attached  to  his  Church  brethren, 
free  from  any  disposition  to  succeed  if  it  brought  injus- 
tice to  others,  and  never  uttering  a  word  intentionally 
to  injure  the  Christian  life  or  character  of  any.  He 
seemingly  guarded  with  as  much  care  the  good  name 
of  his  brethren  as  he  did  his  own.  Without  murmur 
or  conflict  he  accepted  whatever  disposition  the  Church 
made  of  him.  None  more  devotedly  believed  in  God,  in 
His  personal  supervision  of  the  affairs  of  men,  and  the 
power  and  ultimate  triumph  of  right,  than  did  he. 
Without  being  a  sectarian  he  was  warmly  attached  to 
the  principles  and  policy  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church. 

In  the  judgment  of  some,  Bishop  Coons  would  hardly 
be  considered  an  eminent  preacher,  but  he  was  an 
attractive,  useful  minister.  His  ability  was  native,  not 
acquired.  He  was  without  even  a  common-school  edu- 
cation, common  as  it  was  in  his  early  life.  He  could 
not  read  even  so  much  as  a  verse  in  the  Bible  until  after 
his  conversion.  Ministerial  life  in  the  United  Brethren 
Church,  when  he  entered  it  and  for  many  years  after, 
offered  but  little  opportunity  for  self-culture.  With 
circuits  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  appointments,  with 
travel  of  from  two  to  five  hundred  miles  to  fill  them. 


TWELFTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BKETHKEN   IN   CHRIST.     281 

and  with  a  meagre  pittance  when  the  work  was  done, 
there  was  little  time  and  energy  left  for  study."  Yet 
sound  in  doctrine,  simple  and  easy  in  manner,  original 
in  thought  and  arrangement,  conversant  with  the  Bible, 
the  one  book  to  him,  with  excellent  descriptive  powers 
and  with  a  pleasant,  persuasive  voice,  he  was  successful 
in  bringing  souls  to  Christ. 

He  is  described  by  those  who  knew  him  best  as  a 
man  six  feet  in  height,  well  proportioned,  with  brown 
hair,  and  blue  eyes  deeply  set.  He  was  of  sanguine 
temperament,  apt  to  learn,  of  inquiring  disposition,  and 
possessed  a  retentive  memor3^  He  was  uneducated  in 
the  schools,  but  trained  in  the  affairs  of  life.  He  was 
magnetic  in  address,  possessed  true  dramatic  instincts, 
and  when  aroused  was  eloquent.  He  was  born  with  a 
love  for  the  grand  and  beautiful  in  nature.  He  had  a 
strong  natural  love  for  harmony,  peace  and  good  fellow- 
ship. Discord,  strife  and  the  lower  passions  seemed 
undeveloped  in  his  organization.  He  was  impatient 
of  pain  in  himself  and  in  others.  He  was  timid  to  a 
certain  point,  and  then  was  firm  and  fixed.  He  was 
influential  in  his  Chm'ch  and  had  many  warm  friends 
when  known.  He  served  his  Church  in  the  active  min- 
istry until  within  a  year  or  so  of  the  close  of  his  life. 

One  of  the  members  of  the  Muskingum  Conference 
over  which  he  presided  when  a  Bishop,  describes  him  as 
'"  tall,  spare,  yet  well  proportioned  in  his  person,  having 
a  good  voice,  easy  in  his  delivery,  with  a  fine  presence, 
impressive  in  his  preaching.  He  was  a  man  of  marked 
asefulness,  and  filled  his  place  as  a  Bishop  well.  He 
was  a  man  of  feeble  health,  which  was  the  reason  of 
his  non-election  to  the  Bishop's  office  the  second  time." 

Mr.  Coons  was  not  a  very  regular  correspondent  of 


282  JOHN   COONS, 

the  Chiircli  papers.  His  busy  life,  his  feeble  health,  or 
the  consciousness  of  his  lack  of  scholarly  attainments 
may  have  kept  him  from  it,  yet  when  necessary  he 
could  make  himself  understood  in  print.  Removed 
from  the  heat  of  the  contest,  which  to  those  interested 
no  doubt  seemed  a  very  important  one,  we  can  but 
smile  at  the  earnestness  and  directness  of  these  men  of 
the  past,  and  wonder  why  they  could  make  so  much  of 
such  little  things.  Possibly  in  their  age  we  should  have 
done  no  better. 

Through  some  misunderstanding  which  implied  that 
the  Telescope  office  needed  money  and  was  about  to 
appeal  to  the  Church  for  a  contribution,  Mr.  Coons,  who 
was  Presiding  Elder,  allo^ved  a  resolution  to  be  passed 
by  the  Springfield  Circuit,  in  which  they  pledged  some 
money  on  certain  conditions.  Some  supposed  uncom- 
plimentary reference  having  been  made  to  this  in  the 
Telescope^  Mr.  Coons  comes  back  at  the  editor  in  the 
following  spicy  manner : 

"  Sixthly  and  lastly,  brother  Edwards,  I  want  you 
to  give  this  a  place  in  the  Telescope  ;  there  I  want  no 
surgical  operation  to  be  performed  on  it ;  do  not  dissect 
and  rebuild  it  again,  further  than  spelling  and  punctu- 
ation demand,  if  needed ;  and  please  have  the  politeness 
to  put  no  head  nor  tail  to  it  by  way  of  remark.  If  you 
wish,  in  addition  to  your  editorials,  to  write  for  the 
paper,  take  that  authority  as  a  correspondent  on  any 
and  all  subjects  you  wish."  The  editor  granted  his 
request  and  published  it  without  "  putting  head  or  tail 
to  it." 

In  that  early  day  how  men  could  belong  to  an  Anti- 
Slavery  Church  and  yet  support  men  and  measures 
which  tended  to  entrench  and  prolong  the  evil,  seemed 


TWELFTH   BISHOP   UNITED   BKETHREN   IN   CHEIST.      283 

as  hard  to  reconcile  with  consistency  as  in  these  latter 
days  it  is  to  accept  the  statement  of  Christian  men  who 
call  themselves  Prohibitionists,  and  say  they  are  in  favor 
of  the  destruction  of  the  liquor  traffic  and  yet  support 
men  and  measures  whose  object  is  to  legalize  and  per- 
petuate the  so-called  business.  Some  of  these  radical 
brethren  must  have  been  pushing  Mr.  Coons  a  little  too 
far,  for  he  speaks  out  in  the  Telescojye  of  September  24, 
1845,  after  this  fashion :  "  My  inmost  soul  saj^s.  Oh,  that 
Africa  might  be  free.  I  am  willing  to  do  anything  in 
my  power,  in  any  Scriptural  way,  to  have  it  effected. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  we  are  sometimes  called  slave- 
holders in  principle  and  no  better  than  slaveholders  by 
members  of  our  own  Church.  Why  is  this  ?  Because  we 
do  not  attach  ourselves  to  the  Abolitionists,  to  carry 
out  the  political  measures  of  that  party  as  some  of  our 
ministers  and  members  have  seen  fit  to  do.  If  any  of 
our  brethren  want  to  attach  themselves  to  an  Abolition 
society  and  carry  out  their  measures,  they  can  do  so 
without  charging  the  rest  of  the  Church  with  being  no 
better  than  slaveholders  in  principle." 

It  is  very  evident  that  Mr,  Coons  did  not  court  the 
glory  of  being  called  an  "Abolitionist."  If  he  had  been 
versed  in  the  methods  of  our  day,  he  would  have  told 
these  brethren  that  he  was  "Just  as  good  an  anti-slavery 
man  as  they  were,  but " 

In  1842  it  was  supposed  that  Bishop  Erb  would  pre- 
side over  the  Allegheny  Conference.  By  some  re- 
arranging of  the  Bishop,  Mr.  Coons  was  sent,  and  the 
time  of  the  Conference  was  changed.  Bro.  Eitter,  a 
member  of  the  Conference,  foolishly  rushed  into  print, 
to  make  complaint,  and  of  course  Mr.  Coons  felt  hurt. 
In  a  reply  in  the  columns  of   the  Telescojpe^  he  came 


284:  JOHN   COONS, 

back  at  Bro,  Eitter  with  such  plain  talk  that  it  should, 
and  perhaps  did,  quiet  him.     Hear  him  : 

"  Where  you  got  the  information  that  Bro.  Erb  is 
your  Bishop  I  can  not  tell.  I  have  been  one  of  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Scioto  Conference  to  the  General 
Conference,  regularly,  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  and  I 
have  never  heard  or  known  of  such  a  district  in  the 
Church.  The  General  Conference  elects  the  Bishops 
and  says  they  shall  preside  over  the  Annual  and  Gen- 
eral Conferences  and  oversee  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the 
Church.  So  the  United  Brethren  Church,  or  our  entire 
people,  is  our  district,  and  we  divide  our  work  among 
ourselves ;  and  ifaffiiction  or  other  unavoidable  preventa- 
tive hindrances  be  the  cause  of  our  non-attendance,  we 
are  not  to  be  censured  or  turned  out  of  office  for  it.  I 
expect  that  Bro.  Erb  will  try  to  study  discipline  as  you 
have  directed  him,  so  that  he  may  be  able  to  stand  in  his 
own  defense  ;  and  if  the  General  Conference  shall  elect 
you  to  the  office  of  Bishop,  Bro.  Bitter,  yotc  will  find 
tnore  dijficulties  than  heretofore. 

"  If  you  saw  any  thing  wrong  in  my  administration, 
why  did  you  not  reveal  your  mind  in  a  line  by  mail  ? 
If  thy  brother  trespass,  go  to  him,  and  not  to  the  world 
first.  Permit  me  to  tell  you  that  you  have  done  wrong 
in  choosing  the  Telescope  as  a  place  to  reveal  your  mind 
on  this  subject.  I  am  very  sorry  to  have  to  reply  to 
you  in  a  public  periodical  as  a  feeble  defense  against 
your  stern  demands.  And  now,  brother,  my  advice  to 
you  is,  that  you  hereafter  attend  well  to  your  district, 
do  all  the  good  you  can,  and  when  3^ou  think  there  is 
anything  wrong  in  my  administration,  please  have  the 
politeness  and  ministerial  sympathy  to  write  me.  It 
is  doubtless  due  your  own  Conference,  Bishop  Erb  and 


TWELFTH    BISHOP    UNITED    BKETHEEN    IN    CHRIST.      285 

myself,  that  a  requisite  acknowledgment  be  made  by 
you." 

One  of  the  things  which  called  special  attention  to 
Mr.  Coons  Tvas  his  gracefulness  of  manner  and  neatness 
of  personal  appearance.  His  tall  form,  his  neatness  of 
dress  and  his  general  appearance  made  him  the  most 
commanding  in  public  assemblies  of  all  our  men.  This 
was  especially  to  be  commended  at  a  time  when  our 
untrained  ministers  seemed  to  have  an  impression  that 
carelessness  in  dress  would  add  to  their  influence  with 
the  common  people.  He  had  good,  self-control.  He 
managed  his  temper  and  himself  well,  both  in  the  pul- 
pit and  elsewhere.  He  was  not  so  much  a  writer,  but 
was  a  gifted  and  graceful  talker.  He  was  not  a  man  to 
plan  or  to  originate  measures,  but  could  harmonize  w^ell 
with  what  the  denomination  did.  He  viewed  questions 
as  they  affected  himself  perhaps  as  much  as  for  their 
bearing  on  the  Church-at-large.  He  was  a  good  stu- 
dent of  human  nature,  could  read  men  and  see  through 
their  shams  and  pretenses.  His  strength  in  the  main 
was  in  his  control  of  himself  and  his  insight  into  men ; 
a  man  of  good  ability,  but  of  delicate  health.  In  his 
earlier  years  he  was  a  ma-n  of  some  financial  means,  but 
became  reduced  as  he  grew  older.  He  occupied  an  influ- 
ential position  in  Miami  Conferences,  and  left  behind 
him  a  large  circle  of  warm  personal  friends. 

We  have  been  fortunate  in  securing  a  fine  picture 
of  Bishop  Coons.  As  v/e  look  into  his  frank,  open, 
manly  face,  we  recognize  the  tender-hearted,  polite, 
dignified  Christian  gentleman,  who  faithfully  served 
the  Church  of  his  choice  for  a  long  life,  reaching  by  his 
ability  and  faithfulness  the  highest  position  which  it 
could  give  him,  and  who  would  have  done  credit  to  any 


286 


JOHN   COONS. 


body  of  people.     "  He  rests  from  his  labors." 

"Fold  ye  the  ice-cold  hands 

Calm  on  the  pulseless  breast; 
The  toil  of  the  summer  day  is  o'er , 

Now  Cometh  the  evening  rest; 
And  the  folded  hands  have  nobly  wrought 

Through  noontide's  din  and  strife, 
And  the  dauntless  heart  hath  bravely  fought 

In  the  ceaseless  war  of  life. 

"  From  the  gorgeous  glare  of  day, 
Welcome  the  gentle  night, 
Fading  the  tranquil  lines  away, 
Solemn  and  calm  and  bright. 
Then  tenderly,  tenderly  fold  the  hands 

In  peace  on  the  pulseless  breast; 
For  the  evening  shadows  come  quickly  on. 
And  sweet  is  the  Christian's  rest." 

Thomas  D'Aecy  McGeb. 


,^. 


REV  JOHN   RUSSEL, 
THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


KEY.  JOHN  EUSSEL  was  of  German  ances- 
try, and  was  born  at  Pipe  Creek  in  the  State  of 
Maryland,  on  the  18th  of  March,  1799.  He  had  in 
early  life  the  advantages  of  a  Christian  home  and  relig- 
ious training.  His  grandfather,  who  came  to  this 
country  about  the  year  1Y56,  was  converted  soon  after 
his  arrival.  In  a  letter  written  to  his  brother  in  Eu- 
rope, he  says,  "  Here  I  have  learned  to  pray  for  the 
pardon  of  my  sins  and  for  a  pure  heart  and  a  right 
spirit.  Oh  how  I  have  longed  for  Jesus  to  redeem  me 
from  my  trouble,  which  God  -has  granted  unto  me  by 
inward  experience.  We  shall  hardly  see  each  other  in 
this  world  ;  let  us  so  live  that  we  may  meet  in  heaven." 
His  father,  Jacob  Russel,  Vv^as  a  man  of  deep  piety. 
The  mother  likewise  set  before  her  boy  a  good  example 
of  a  religious  life,  and  took  a  deep  interest  in  his  spiritual 
welfare.  As  the  public  opportunities  for  Christian  cult- 
ure were  not  so  numerous  as  now,  the  deficiency  had 
to  be  supplied  by  more  efficient  instruction  at  home. 
In  his  younger  years  Mr.  Russel  was  not  addicted  to 
the  degrading  vices  which  so  often  wreck  the  lives  of  our 
most  gifted  young  men.  He  was,  however,  fond  of  fun, 
enjoyed  a  good  joke  at  his  own  expense  or  at  the  ex- 
pense of  others,  and  hence  his  presence  was  a  necessity 
wherever  young  people  were  gathered  together.  He 
enjoyed  these  pleasantries  of  wit  even   down  to  old 

387 


288  JOHN   KUSSEL, 

age,  and  many  are  the  pleasant  memories  which  his 
associates  recall  concerning  him. 

Notwithstanding  all  of  this,  his  mind  was  not  at 
rest.  His  better  nature  asserted  itself,  and  he  knew  he 
was  slighting  the  teachings  of  his  parents,  disobeying 
his  own  conscience,  and  going  contrary  to  God's  re- 
vealed will.  In  the  buoyancy  and  recklessness  of 
youth,  he  managed  for  some  time  to  push  aside  these 
more  serious  thoughts,  but  there  came  a  time  when 
they  asserted  themselves  with  more  than  usual  strength. 
When  coming  home  from  a  gathering  of  young  people, 
to  which  he  had  gone  without  his  parents'  consent,  he 
was  seized  with  feelings  of  bitter  remorse,  and  when 
he  reached  home  he  rushed  into  his  mother's  room, 
made  confession  and  promised  amendment.  He  had 
formed  a  determination  to  do  better,  and,  without  con- 
fiding his  purpose  to  any  one,  he  sought  God  until  He 
was  found  of  him,  and  he  became  a  new  man.  He 
says,  "  I  would  pray  as  well  as  I  knew  how ;  I  would 
sometimes  use  prayer-books,  until  at  length,  under  an 
apple  tree,  my  troubled  spirit  was  comforted ;  gladness 
so  filled  my  soul  that  I  ran  to  my  mother,  telling  her 
what  I  had  obtained.  All  three  of  us,  father,  mother 
and  myself,  prayed  rejoicingly.  I  experienced  such  a 
power  I  thought  I  must  tell  everybody  how  I  felt." 
His  conversion  had  a  good  effect  on  the  neighborhood. 
Prayer  meetings  were  started  in  many  places ;  revivals 
broke  out,  and  many  young  people  were  converted  to 
God.  At  the  request  of  the  brethren,  he  would  often 
read  the  Scriptures,  and  sometimes  exhort  at  these 
meetings,  without  any  idea,  however,  that  some  time 
he  was  to  take  upon  himself  the  solemn  obligations  of 
an  embassador  of  God. 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     289 

When  a  boy,  he  met  with  a  remarkable  deliverance, 
which  had  no  small  influence  on  his  after  life.  On  his 
father's  farm  was  a  cave,  which  at  one  time  he  attempted 
to  explore.  The  entrance  was  from  above,  between 
two  ledges  of  rock,  and  widened  as  he  descended. 
Having  let  himself  down  until  his  arms  rested  on  the 
surface,  he  found  nothing  below  on  which  he  could 
stand,  nor  could  he  get  either  up  or  down.  He  strug- 
gled and  cried,  but  to  no  purpose.  Having  remained 
some  time  in  great  suspense,  he  was  rescued  by  a  neigh- 
bor, who  heard  his  cries  and  came  to  his  help. 

He  served  an  apprenticeship  of  about  eighteen 
months  to  a  blacksmith.  His  master  intending  to 
leave  the  neighborhood,  the  father  bought  a  set  of  tools 
for  the  son,  and  a  colored  man  to  blow  and  strike  for 
him,  and  the  two  began  business.  It  soon  became  man- 
ifest that  the  Master  above  had  other  work  for  him. 
He  was  to  be  sent  to  break  in  pieces  the  flinty  hearts 
of  hardened  sinners.  His  earnestness  and  his  sim- 
plicity reached  the  hearts  of  the  unconverted,  and  his 
exhortations  were  bringing  more  successful  results  than 
did  his  shop.  He  saw,  and  his  father  saw,  how  God 
was  leading  him  as  this  new  life  was  opening  up  before 
him,  and  they  both  acquiesced.  The  shop  was  aban- 
doned, the  colored  man  made  free,  and  Russel,  in  the 
nineteenth  year  of  his  age,  started  for  conference, 
which  met  in  Lancaster  County,  Pa.  Here  he  was  li- 
censed to  preach,  his  papers  being  signed  by  Bishop 
Kewcomer,  who  took  him  with  him  to  Virginia,  and 
placed  him  on  a  circuit  to  preach.  He  had  little  knowl- 
edge and  no  experience,  but  he  had  a  flaming  zeal  for 
the  salvation  of  souls.  "  It  was  the  yearning  of  a  full 
heart  for  the  salvation  of  the  people,  a  yearning  that 


290  JOHN   BUSSEL, 

found  vent  in  tears  and  prayers  and  exhortations. 
The  people  flocked  to  hear  him,  bare-footed  and  in 
hunting  shirts,  but  kind  and  hospitable  and  attentive. 
He,  himself,  in  speaking  of  these  years  of  labor,  says: 
'  We  had  glorious  times,  bless  God,  His  hand  bore  me 
through.'  " 

Traveling  a  circuit  in  that  day  was  altogether  a  dif- 
ferent thing  from  what  it  is  now.  His  second  year  was 
spent  on  a  circuit  lying  mostl}^  in  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Starting  at  Hagerstown,  thence  to  Green- 
castle,  Chambersburg,  Carlisle,  Shiremanstown,  Worm- 
leysburg,  up  the  Conodoguin,  crossing  the  mountain  at 
Sterut's  Gap  into  Sherman's  Yalley,  out  to  Finestone 
Ridge,  Buffalo  Yalley,  Path  Yalley,  Turkey  Yalley, 
Amberson's  Yalley,  and  on  back  to  Hagerstown,  what 
is  now  (1856)  embraced  in  nine  circuits  and  stations 
in  the  Pennsylvania  Conference  and  a  part  of  Alle- 
gheny Conference.  For  his  salary  he  received  $80. 
His  horse  broke  down,  and  rather  than  abandon  the 
work,  he  took  it  afoot.  The  preaching  places  were  far 
apart,  and  he  was  sometimes  compelled  to  travel  all 
night,  wading  the  streams,  to  reach  his  appointments. 
During  this  year  he  contracted  a  painful  disease  in  his 
eyes,  from  being  compelled  to  wade  the  Juniata  river 
when  in  a  state  of  perspiration,  a  disease  he  did  not  get 
rid  of  for  several  years  afterward. 

His  exposures  were  great,  his  travels  extensive  and 
laborious,  and  his  remuneration  small.  Yet,  after  all, 
it  had  its  pleasant  features.  It  was  not  all  hardship 
and  disappointment.  There  was  no  missionary  fund  to 
supply  the  deficit  in  his  salary,  but  there  were  warm- 
hearted  brethren  and  sisters,  who  greeted  him  with 
smiles,  who  followed  him  with  their  blessings,  and  who 


THIKTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHEEN  IN  CHRIST.     291 

gave  him  the  very  best  they  had.  He  was  entertained 
by  their  firesides,  fed  at  their  tables,  and  sheltered 
within  their  homes.  Wherever  he  went  he  found  a 
ruined  world,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that 
he  was  a  co-worker  with  God  in  the  salvation  of  lost 
man.  "  And  what  were  the  bludgeons  and  menaces  of 
the  wicked  rabble^  who  often  stood  at  the  door  of  the 
preaching  room?  "What  if  his  horse  must  be  kept 
under  lock  and  key  to  protect  him  from  injury  hy 
these  half  civilized  Pennsylvanians,  when  he  saw  his 
labors  thus  blessed  ? " 

In  1819  Ohio  was  in  the  far  west,  at  least  was  so 
considered  by  those  residing  in  Pennsylvania.  Though 
much  of  it  was  still  uncultivated  wilderness,  it  was  a 
land  of  remarkable  fertility,  and  was  fast  being  settled 
with  an  industrious  population.  As  must  be  the  case  in 
a  newly  settled  country,  educational  and  religious  advan- 
tages were  scarce,  and  the  dwellers  on  these  hilltops  and 
in  these  valleys  turned  their  eyes  in  search  of  help  to 
the  Old  Keystone  State. 

Kussel  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1819,  and  in  May 
of  the  same  year,  in  company  with  Bishop  Newcomer 
aYid  Rev.  John  Fetterhoff,  came  to  this  country.  At 
this  time  there  were  but  two  conferences  west  of  the 
Alleghenies.  The  circuit  given  to  Mr.  Russel  included 
what  was  afterward  known  as  Scioto  Conference,  cov- 
ering portions  of  Fairfield,  Perry,  Licking,  Hocking, 
Muskingum  and  Pickaway  counties,  and  was  called 
Lancaster  Circuit.  It  took  from  six  to  seven  weeks  to 
make  one  round  in  his  circuit.  The  first  camp-meeting 
ever  held  by  the  church  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  was  held 
on  the  land  of  Mr.  Dresbach.  The  next  one  was  held 
in    Pickaway    county,    and   proved   very    successful. 


292  JOHN    KUSSEL, 

Christian  families  came  with  their  tents  twenty-five 
miles  to  attend  these  meetings.  Benedum,  Smalls, 
Bowser,  Cramer,  Macklin,  Shower,  Zeller,  Klinger, 
Heistand  and  an  English  preacher  named  Havens  were 
the  preachers  in  attendance. 

At  the  urgent  request  of  Bishops  Zeller  and  Kum- 
ler  he  spent  the  latter  half  of  his  year  in  the  Miami 
settlement.  This  was,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  a 
Western  frontier,  and  the  minister  had  all  the  inconven- 
iences and  privations  of  a  frontier  life  to  endure. 
Rivers  swollen  to  madness  must  be  crossed,  roads  diffi- 
cult to  travel  at  any  time  must  be  got  over  at  all  sea- 
sons of  the  year,  miles  of  dense  forests  with  hardly  a 
footpath  must  be  plodded  through.  Drenching  rains 
and  drifting  snows  must  be  encountered ;  poorly  clad 
and  poorly  sheltered,  these  men  of  God  moved  onward, 
sowing  the  seed  of  eternal  truth.  Mr.  Russel  had  him- 
self a  Jiatchet  made,  with  which  he  hlazed  the  trees  as  he 
passed  along,  that  he  might  know  of  his  whereabouts 
when  he  happened  in  that  latitude  again.  The  follow- 
ing incident  will  show  the  kind  of  fare  the  itinerants 
of  that  day  were  accustomed  to.  Having  spent  the 
whole  day  on  horseback,  traveling  through  rain  arnl 
mud,  he  was  compelled  to  stop  for  the  night  with  a 
small  Quaker  family.  The  cabin  fire  was  soon  under 
way,  for  the  double  purpose  of  drying  the  guest  and  cook- 
ing the  supper.  The  hospitable  Quakeress  prepared  some 
corn  dough,  greased  a  shingle,  and,  placing  the  dough 
on  the  shingle,  all  was  set  before  the  5re  to  bake. 
When  one  side  was  browned  the  shingle  was  jammed 
ajrainst  the  chimnev,  the  cake  loosened  and  turned,  and 
the  other  side  put  to  the  fire.  A  portion  being  baked, 
it  was  taken  from  the  board  a  veritable  "johnny-cake," 


«? 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     293 

the  first  ever  seen  by  the  traveler.  A  portion  of  the 
cake  with  a  tin  of  milk  made  the  supper.  After  a 
whole  day's  fasting  on  horseback,  it  was  devoured  with 
an  appetite  hardly  known  to  your  pale-faced  dyspeptic 
itinerants  now.  But  the  active  mind  of  the  young  min- 
ister did  not  fail  to  discover  in  this  johnny-cake  process 
a  very  apt  illustration  of  a  striking  scripture  metaphor^ 
"  Ephraim  is  a  cake  not  turned ;  unfit  for  use  until 
baked  on  both  sides." 

The  affliction  in  his  eyes  which  had  been  caused  by 
his  wading  the  Juniata  some  years  before,  was  no  bet- 
ter at  this  time,  but  rather  worse  ;  so  much  so,  that  he 
was  compelled  to  give  up  his  regular  work  as  an  itin- 
erant. He  was  so  earnest  a  preacher,  however,  and  so 
thoroughly  called  of  God  to  his  work,  that  he  must 
preach  the  everlasting  gospel  as  health  and  circum- 
stances would  allow.  He  was  so  bent  on  doing  good 
that  he  built  a  schoolhouse  near  his  own  dwelling, 
organized  a  Sabbath-school,  and  gave  instruction  to 
its  members  every  Sabbath.  He  did  not  intend  to  be 
located  any  sooner  nor  any  longer  than  necessity  de- 
manded. When  his  health  improved  he  was  again 
ready  for  work.  He  faithfully  performed  such  work 
as  the  conference  gave  him,  until  1830,  when  he  vras 
elected  presiding  elder. 

Up  to  this  time  the  church  had  no  periodical,  and 
no  means  of  communication  of  any  kind  with  its  mem- 
bers. The  membership  in  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try knew  very  little  of  each  other.  This  great  want 
was  seen  by  Russel  and  others,  and  how  to  remedy  it 
became  a  question  of  vital  importance.  Our  people  at 
this  time  were  not  a  reading  people.  Many  of  them 
were    German    and    not    familiar    with    the    Eng- 


294  JOHN   KUSSEL, 

lish  language.  While  there  was  need  for  a  paper, 
there  was  no  great  desire  for  it,  and  it  was 
a  question  whether  it  could  be  supported.  After 
much  thought  over  the  matter,  Mr.  Kussel,  Jon- 
athan and  George  Dresbach  purchased  a  press  and 
launched  the  paper.  Mr.  Eussel  was  so  fully  in 
sympathy  with  the  work,  that  he  sold  his  little  prop- 
erty, and  invested  the  entire  proceeds  as  his  share  of 
the  capital.  The  paper  appeared  in  1834.  The  follow- 
ing year  he  gave  much  of  his  time  to  securing  sub- 
scribers for  the  paper.  His  support  of  this  interest 
was  always  hearty  and  substantial,  and  in  the  days  of 
its  darkest  financial  necessities  and  embarrassments, 
he  was  ready  to  step  forward  with  loans  and  donations 
for  its  relief.  He  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  trus 
tees  until  he  went  East.  When  he  died  the  trustees 
of  the  printing  estabhshment  passed  the  following  as  a 
recognition  of  his  work  : 

^^ Resolved:  That  in  the  demise  of  this  good  man,  the 
printing  establishment  has  lost  one  of  its  earliest  and 
stanchest  friends,  and  we  record  with  gratitude  the 
fact  that  in  its  founding,  and  through  its  long  subse- 
quent years  of  struggle  for  existence  and  prosperity, 
he  never  failed  to  sympathize  with  it,  and  to  trust  in 
its  final  success,  manifesting  all  these  by  donations,  and 
furnisliing  funds  on  long  time  and  at  a  low  rate  of 
interest." 

While  in  Baltimore,  he  also  helped  to  start  a  German 
paper  in  the  interests  of  the  church.  It  had  no  con- 
nection with  the  church  until  the  General  Conference  of 
1841,  when  said  conference  received  it  with  its  press 
and  office  as  church  property,  and  located  it  in  Balti- 
more, where  it  had  been  before,  and  elected  its  officers, 
who  received  a  portion  of  the  money  pledged  to  estab- 
lish the   Busy  Martha  in   Baltimore,  where  it   was 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     295 

published  by  Brother  Jcacob  Erb  until  July,  1842,  when 
it  was  suspended  for  lack  of  good  paying  subscriptions. 
It  helped  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  German  paper 
which  we  now  have. 

"  After  laboring  several  years  in  Ohio,  in  1837  he 
was  called  by  the  vestry  of  the  Otterbein  Church  in 
Baltimore  to  fill  their  pulpit,  and  he  took  charge  of  the 
congregation  in  the  following  year.  To  this  date, 
about  eighteen  years  of  his  itinerant  life  had  been 
spent  in  the  West.  As  a  compensation  for  his  labors 
during  that  time,  he  received  about  $60  per  annum. 
Several  points,  however,  were  well  seen  to  —  watch- 
fulness, prayer,  work  and  economy.  Mrs.  Russel 
pulled  the  flax,  rotted,  scutched,  hackled,  spun,  wove 
and  made  the  cloth  into  garments  for  her  husband  to 
wear.  She  took  the  wool  from  the  sheep's  back,  and 
b}''  passing  it  through  the  same  unpatented  machine, 
dying  and  fulling  excepted,  provided  him  with  winter 
clothing.  She  spun  and  wove  for  her  neighbors,  and 
bought  necessaries  for  family  use.  She  submitted 
cheerfully  to  all  this  toil  and  the  necessary  privation 
of  much  of  her  husband's  society  to  keep  him  in  the 
field,  much  as  she  loved  and  valued  him  and  much  as 
she  enjoyed  his  company.  She  sacrificed  her  personal 
preferences  rather  than  have  himJay  down  his  commis- 
sion and  abandon  his  calling.  His  elder  daughter 
(afterward  Mrs.  Geeting)  spun  the  filling  for  ten  yards 
of  tow  linen  in  her  seventh  year.  Russel  himself  made 
his  own  shoes,  and  repaired  clocks  for  the  neighbors. 
They  thought  it  not  beneath  them  to  resort  to  any 
honest  means  to  make  a  living.  In  this  way  they 
lived  comfortably,  kept  out  of  debt,  and  enjoyed  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  the  church." 


296  JOHN   RUSSEL, 

He  was  called  to  Baltimore  by  the  vestry  of  the 
Otterbein  Church,  and  took  charge  of  the  church  in 
April,  1838.  He  Avas  several  years  in  Baltimore,  two 
as  presiding  elder  in  Pennsylvania  Conference,  and 
four  as  a  bishop.  He  was  returned  to  the  city  a  second 
time  in  1831,  and  left  in  1854. 

Mr.  Russel  was  very  efficient  in  getting  competent 
young  men  into  the  ministry,  and  did  much  to  encour- 
age them  in  their  work.  He  enlisted  six  in  the  State 
of  Ohio,  and  eight  in  Maryland,  most  of  whom  did 
good  work,  and  some  of  them  filled  responsible  places 
in  the  church. 

January  1, 1846,  soon  after  he  was  elected  bishop, 
he  had  occasion  to  write  to  a  young  minister,  and 
finally  his  letter  was  published  in  the  Telescojpe.  It 
is  full  of  most  excellent  advice  and  shows  the  good 
sense,  the  dignity  and  the  fatherly  kindness  of  the 
bishop.  We  must  make  an  extract  or  two  :  "  Think 
not,  l^Tow  I  am  a  preacher  I  may  be  ranked  among  the 
apostles ;  rather  think  that  you  have  barely  entered 
upon  the  threshold  of  God's  ministry.  Also  think  it 
your  duty  to  improve  your  mind,  talents,  self-knowl- 
edge and  character,  with  all  other  graces  calculated  to 
advance  a  Christian  minister.  On  the  other  hand,  do 
not  think  less  of  yourself  than  you  ought  to  think,  but 
think  soberly. 

"  If  your  retention  is  bad,  do  not  crowd  it.  It  is  of  as 
ill  consequence  to  overload  a  weak  memory  as  a  weak 
stomach,  so  keep  it  free  from  trash.  Take  heed  what 
company  you  keep,  what  books  you  read,  and  what 
thoughts  you  favor.  What  you  are  determined  to  re- 
member, think  of  before  you  go  to  sleep  at  night,  and 
the  first  thinff  in  the  morning'  when  vour  faculties  are 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     297 

fresh.  Habituate  yourself  to  close  and  rational  think- 
ing. When  you  have  started  a  good  thought  pursue 
it ;  do  not  presently  lose  sight  of  it.  Manage  your 
actions  and  thoughts  in  such  a  manner  as  if  you  were 
just  going  out  of  the  world. 

"  Take  no  text  which  you  can  not  Avell  handle,  for 
it  is  ill  in  a  child,  when  its  parents  send  it  to  bring 
chips,  to  take  hold  of  a  big  stick,  and  pout  because  it 
can  not  cari-y  it." 

The  following  specimen  of  Russel's  preaching  abil- 
ity is  from  Samuel  Ruber's  autobiography.  Huber 
had  been  asked  to  aid  Mr.  Eussel  in  holding  a  meeting 
in  Sherman's  Valley,  Fa.  He  was  there  before  Russel, 
and  began  the  meeting.  It  was  well  under  headway, 
and  much  interest  had  already  been  aroused.  "  Up  to 
this  time  Brother  Russel  had  not  been  in  the  meeting, 
but,  from  what  we  understood  afterward,  he  appeared 
to  be  dodging."  Brother  Russel  had  been  threatened 
by  some  rowdies  with  the  loss  of  his  horse's  tail,  and,  it 
may  be,  a  little  damage  to  himself.  These  threats 
might  have  made  him  "  dodge  "  some,  and  it  appeared 
to  be  so  from  the  fact  that,  during  the  first  part  of  the 
meeting,  he  was  in  the  room  above,  peeping  down 
through  the  stove-pipe  hole  in  the  floor,  watching  the 
movements  below  and  observing  how  matters  were 
going  on.  Seeing  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  breaking,  he 
took  courage,  and  came  down  into  the  room  just  about 
the  time  that  Brother  Winget  was  closing  his  remarks. 
Bishop  Russel  opened  his  gun,  and  commenced  exhort- 
ing in  such  terms  that  the  power  of  God's  word 
flew  like  showers  of  grape  shot  from  a  battery.  If 
ever  God  helped  a  man  to  speak  in  His  name,  He  did 
so  throuffh  Brother  Russel  on  this  occasion.     The  meet- 


298  JOHN   RUSSEL, 

ing  proceeded,  some  getting  religion  and  praising  God ; 
others,  cut  to  the  heart,  fell  down  in  distress  to  rise  up 
again  with  joy. 

Mourning,  singing,  praying  and  shouting  were  the 
cnaracteristics  of  that  night.  The  meeting  continued 
until  breakfast  time  the  next  morning. 

Although  born  and  reared  in  a  pro-slavery  State, 
like  many  another  man  brought  up  amid  such  surround- 
ings, he  was  intense  in  his  opposition  to  slavery.  Soon 
after  the  Telescope  started,  the  question  of  opening  its 
columns  to  the  discussion  of  the  evils  of  slavery  came 
up  in  various  sections.  In  1838  it  was  discussed  in  the 
Pennsylvania  Conference,  in  session  at  Wormleysburg, 
and  Russel  was  present.  A  member  having  objected 
to  its  introduction,  for  fear  it  would  hinder  the  circula- 
tion of  the  paper,  Russel  responded  as  follows:  "The 
church  of  the  United  Brethren  in.  Christ  has  faithfullv 
spoken  out  against  this  curse  of  crimes,  and  done  well 
in  refusing  to  admit  within  her  pale,  slave-holders. 
She  has  washed  her  hands  of  the  pollution  of  this  with- 
ering, blighting  crime.  None  of  the  blood  of  the  op- 
•  pressed  is  found  on  her  skirts.  God  forbid  that  she 
should  now  abandon  her  noble  position,  so  bravely 
taken,  and  hitherto  so  manfully  maintained.  This  is  no 
time  for  her  to  change  front  on  this  important  ques- 
tion, or  settle  down  into  cowardly  criminal  silence. 
Let  her  continue  to  speak  out,  both  through  her  minis- 
try and  her  press.  Let  her  cry  aloud  and  spare  not. 
Let  her  show  the  people  their  transgressions  and  the 
American  nation  its  sin  in  oppressing  God's  poor,  for 
as  certain  as  God  is  God,  and  right  is  right,  the  repub- 
lic will  have  to  come  to  the  church's  position  on  this 
question,  sooner  or  later.     Our  position  on  the  subject 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      299 

of  slavery  is  made  known  wherever  we  go.  At  all  events 
I  do  not  see  that  the  discussion  of  that  important  ques- 
tion in  the  columns  of  the  Telescope  is  going  to  dimin- 
ish very  materially  its  circulation.'' 

While  acting  as  presiding  elder  in  Southern  Ohio, 
he  was  riding  along  one  da}",  and  saw  a  man  chopping 
firewood.  Stopping  his  horse,  he  called  to  him  in  a 
deep  tone  of  voice,  "  Where  is  Lazarus  ? "  "  What  did 
you  say?"  was  the  courteous  inquiry  of  the  laborer. 
"  I  say,  where  is  the  bod}^  of  Lazarus ? "  "I  don't 
know  who  you  are  talking  about,"  said  the  astonished 
man.  "  You  come  down  to  preaching  and  I  will  tell 
you  where  Lazarus  is."  He  did  this  in  order  to  get  the 
man  to  church,  with  the  hope  that  he  might  be  led  to 
Christ.  The  man  came  of  course  to  learn  more  of  this 
wonderful  story.  When  Mr.  Kussel  entered  the  pulpit 
he  said,  "  There  is  a  man  here  who  wants  to  know^ 
where  the  body  of  Lazarus  is,"  and  then  went  on  to 
tell  the  wonderful  story  of  Lazarus,  including  his  death 
and  resurrection.  This  story  proved  to  be  the  teach- 
ing which  the  Spirit  used  to  awaken  the  man,  and  the 
result  was  he  accepted  Christ.  As  usual,  Mr.  Russel 
had  proved  himself  a  good  student  of  human  nature, 
and  in  his  odd  way  did  the  man  a  great  favor. 

On  one  occasion  he  and  Dr.  Davis  had  met  to  ar- 
range for  some  bequest  which  Eussel  was  to  make. 
When  this  work  was  done,  Russel,  by  way  of  a  little 
pleasantry  said,  "  Brother  Davis,  where  is  headquarters 
in  this  church  ? "  Having  founded,  as  it  were,  the 
printing  establishment,  and  having  little  S3niipathy 
with  the  educational  work  as  then  carried  on,  it  was 
easy  to  conjecture  where  he  would  locate  the  head- 
quarters.    Davis  answered  him,  "  If  you  want  to  find 


4 


300  JOHN    RUSSEL, 

out  vnhat  to  think  and  luyw  to  think,  go  to  Otterbein — 
that  is  headquarters  for  thinking — but  if  you  want  to 
learn  how  to  write,  or  how  to  communicate  your 
thoughts,  go  to  the  Telescope  oiSce."  "Ah !  you  are 
slick,  you  are  very  slick.  Brother  Davis,"  answered 
Eussel. 

When  Dr.  Davis  was  made  bishop  in  1853,  Russel 
was  sitting  in  front  of  him  in  the  General  Conference 
room,  and  had  in  his  hand  a  slate  on  which  he  made 
his  notes  and  wrote  his  motions  and  resolutions.  He 
wrote  one,  and  handed  it  back  to  Brother  Davis,  and 
said  to  him,  "  Brother  Davis,  you  make  it  slick  for  me." 

He  often  preached  against  pride,  and  especially  as 
it  manifested  itself  in  dress.  When  at  camp-meeting 
on  one  occasion,  he  was  preaching  against  pride,  as 
usual,  and  especially  against  the  wearing  of  hoop 
skirts,  for  which  he  had  no  special  fondness.  Having 
completed  his  discourse,  he  came  down  from  the  pulpit, 
and  was  met  by  a  lady,  who,  to  ease  the  force  of  his  re- 
marks, said,  "  Father  Russel,  pride  is  not  in  dress,  it  is 
in  the  heart."  "  Oh,  yes,"  said  Russel  in  reply,  "  but 
when  you  see  the  foxes'  tails,  the  foxes  are  not  far  off." 

Russel  was  a  thoroughly  loyal  man,  and  had  no 
sympathy  with  those  engaged  in  the  late  Rebellion.  A 
story  is  current  in  a  certain  portion  of  the  East  which 
is  sufficiently  vouched  for  to  warrant  its  insertion  here. 
He  was  in  attendance  upon  a  meeting  at  one  time,  and 
most  likely  had  charge  of  it.  While  the  meeting  was 
in  progress,  a  man  (we  shall  call  him  Jones,  for  want  of 
a  better  name)  who  had  been  and  was  then  a  sym- 
pathizer with  the  South,  was  called  on  to  pray.  This 
of  itself  would  not  commend  the  man  nor  his  prayer 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  Russel.     When  the  man,  who 


THIRTEENTH   BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     301 

had  a  proclivity  for  long  prayers,  had  prayed  as  long 
as  Mr.  Kussel's  patience  could  stand  it,  the  latter  said 
out  in  quite  audible  tones,  "  Amen,  amen,  that's  long 
enough,  Brother  Jones,  long  enough."  It  need  not  be 
said  that  Brother  Jones'  prayer  ended  somewhat  un- 
ceremoniously. 

At  a  certain  conference  in  Pennsylvania,  the  mem- 
bers were  all  asked  to  meet  at  the  church,  and  they 
would  from  there  be  sent  to  their  respective  boarding- 
houses.  When  the  report  had  been  read,  it  was  seen  that 
Russel  and  a  young  man,  who  had  just  come  into  the 
conference,  had  been  sent  to  the  same  place.  Russel 
arose  in  his  place,  and,  looking  somewhat  seriously  at 
Bishop  Glossbrenner,  and  yet  with  a  merry  twinkle  in 
his  eye,  said,  "  I  object."  As  all  eyes  were  turned  to 
the  speaker,  the  bishop  said  to  him,  "  Wh}^  do  you  ob- 
ject ?  "  "I  object,  "  said  Russel  again.  "  I  came  from 
home  with  a  number  of  questions  that  I  want  answered, 
and  this  young  man  I  fear  won't  answer  them  for  me." 
Glossbrenner,  turning  to  the  young  man,  who  was 
already  somewhat  frightened,  said  to  him  tenderly, 
"  Won't  you  answer  Brother  Russel's  questions ?  "  "I 
will  do  the  best  I  can,"  was  the  modest  answer.  "  All 
right,  then,"  said  Russel,  "  I  will  go  Avith  him." 

Mr.  Russel  was  an  original  man,  and  did  his  own 
thinking.  In  the  inauguration  of  our  educational  work, 
he  played  no  mean  part.  In  this  historic  contest  there 
were  at  least  three  parties :  Those  who  wanted  one  or 
more  schools,  as  might  be  necessary  to  meet  the  pres- 
ent demands;  those  who  wanted  one  seminary  for  the 
whole  church,  with  manual  labor  appendages  and  those 
opposed  to  all  institutions  under  the  control  of  the 
church.     Bishop  Russel  might  with  propriety  be  placed 


302  JOHN    RUSSEL, 

under  the  third  list.  He  was  in  favor  of  the  highest 
mental  culture,  urged  all  the  young  ministers  to  im- 
prove their  talents  by  diligent  study,  and  taught  them 
how  to  do  this,  but  did  not  believe  the  church  should 
descend  from  the  lofty  business  of  saving  souls  to  man- 
age institutions  of  learning.  Already  he  saw,  or  thought 
he  saw,  '*  the  great  danger  that  we  as  a  church  are  lia- 
ble to  fall  into,  by  admitting  such  smattering  institu- 
tions, clogging  the  wheels  of  reformation  among  us." 
He  proposes  to  discuss  the  matter  in  the  German  paper 
and  says,  "  I  think  I  can  fully  show  in  what  sense  we  as 
a  church  can  be  more  useful  wWhovX  j^reacher  factories 
than  with  them.  *  *  *  K  those  in  favor  of  seminar- 
ies can  show  us  that  we  as  a  church  have  always  beea 
wrong,  and  still  are  wrong  for  not  admitting  ^.preacher 
factory^  we  will  have  to  yield  the  point  and  be  at  rest." 

"When  the  sentiment  has  developed  to  such  an  extent 
that  an  institution  is  inevitable,  then,  like  a  wise  gen- 
eral, he  adapts  himself  to  the  situation,  and  shows  us 
what  he  would  advise. 

"  The  first  plan  :  To  have  been  joined  by  the  whole 
church,  should  be  to  be  reunited  on  some  general  plan; 
to  have  located  the  institution  in  some  central  place ; 
about  300  acres  of  land  should  have  been  purchased, 
with  suitable  buildings  upon  it ;  the  land  should  have 
been  divided  into  farms  of  125  acres  each ;  the  re- 
maining fifty  acres  should  have  been  laid  off  in  lots,  on 
which  students  of  the  seminary  should  have  engaged  in 
tilling  the  soil  and  raised  all  the  garden  stuffs  neces- 
sary for  the  institution ;  the  farms  should  have  been 
leased  to  industrious  tenants,  the  proceeds  of  which 
would  have  gone  far  to  have  sustained  the  establish- 
ment.    To  a  plan  like  this  I  would  still  give  $500. 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHEEN  IN  CHEIST.     303 

"  It  should  be  so  arranged  that  a  general  conference 
should  make  its  sessions  in  some  part  of  the  buildings. 
An  apartment  should  be  allotted  to  the  use  of  the  deaf 
and  dumb  of  our  church,  also  a  paper  issued  for  the 
blind.  The  printing  office  {TelesGope)  should  be  accom- 
modated with  room  for  its  operations.  Here  a  variety 
of  ideas  are  suggested  as  to  union  of  everything,  and 
of  the  great  number  of  persons  to  be  employed  con- 
stantly; also  that  our  young  men  and  the  rising  gener- 
ation would  learn  to  work  and  not  be  ashamed  of  it. 
The  whole  church,  rich  and  poor,  would  be  equally  bene- 
fited, while  the  rich  only  have  been  contributors. 

"  A  seminary  of  learning  among  the  United  Breth- 
ren in  Christ,  to  which  labor  is  not  appended,  will  not 
suit  the  habits  of  our  people  nor  their  views  of  the 
matter.  Should  learning  prevail  without  labor,  it  will 
tend  to  make- men  proud,  and  they  will  soon  learn  to 
despise  the  local  ministry  and  rob  it  of  its  vested  rights; 
a  lazy  monopoly  of  men  will  do.  all  the  preaching  and 
praying,  and  the  diversity  of  gifts  will  be  lost  entirely, 
then  farewell  to  the  peculiarities  of  Brethrenism ;  pride 
and  love  of  ease  will  increase ;  men  will  persuade  each 
other  to  goto  college  rather  than  to  become  converted; 
the  love  of  ease  will  swell  the  ministry  and  the  laity 
with  all  sorts  of  people ;  all  restraints  will  be  broken 
down  and  manual  labor  discarded ;  the  means 
which  keep  lazy  men  away,  and  keep  the  l)ocly  tired 
thus  aid  in  crucifying  the  flesh.  This  rock  of 
offense  may  cause  the  church  to  become  divided,  which 
is  very  undesirable  indeed." 

Mr.  Russel's  fears  were  not  well  founded.  Colleges 
have  been  established  within  the  bounds  of  our  church, 
and  are  doing  a  good  work.     With  us  manual  labor 


304  JOHN    RUSSEL, 

appliances  have  failed.  Even  a  "  preacher  factory,"'  as 
he  and  his  followers  would  call  it,  has  been  established, 
and  has  sent  out  its  scores  of  efficient  workers.  For 
none  of  these  causes  has  the  church  yet  been  divided ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  more  intelligent,  broader,  deeper, 
better  able  to  cope  with  the  wickedness  of  the  world 
than  ever  before.  Even  great  men  may  be  mistaken 
at  times  in  their  judgment. 

In  1869,  in  order  to  show  his  interest  in  a  well  trained 
ministry,  and  in  his  anxiety  to  avoid  what  he  sup- 
posed to  be  some  of  the  evils  of  theological  seminaries, 
he  donated  $5,000  to  estabhsh  a  "Biblical  Chair"  in 
Pennsylvania  Conference.  It  was  hemmed  in  by  so 
many  restrictions  that  the  plan  contemplated  did  not 
prove  to  be  feasible.  There  were  but  two  students,  and 
these  were  taught  by  Russel  himself.  The  establish- 
•ment  of  Union  Biblical  Seminary  has  given  us  a  more 
excellent  way.  The  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Rus- 
sel Chair  may  be  found  in*  the  columns  of  the  Telescope 
for  July  7,  1869. 

The  following  story  is  told  by  Hanb}'^,  in  his  church 
history,  concerning  Russel,  and  reveals  a  trait  of  the 
bishop's  character.  A  trial  was  in  progress  for  the 
control  of  the  Otterbein  Church.  Previous  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  suit,  the  church  had  been  thoroughly 
rejmired.  "  A  new  pulpit,  of  modern  style  and  conven- 
ience, had  taken  the  place  of  the  old  one,  which  was  set 
to  one  side  in  the  church  yard.  The  church  was  locked 
up,  and  quite  a  jealousj'^  existed  between  the  ejected 
parties.  Russel  went  to  the  city,  and  announced 
through  the  city  papers  that,  no  preventing  Providence, 
he  would  preach  in  Otter bein's  pulpit  the  following 
Sabbath  at  a  specified  hour.  Excitement  was  all  on  tip- 
toe.   Have  the  civil  authorities  opened  the  church?    Will 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.      305 

that  stubborn  man  break  it  open  himself?  What  does 
this  mean '{  Preach  in  Otterbein's  pulpit !  In  the 
meantime  Kussel  had  stationed  the  old  pulpit  close  to 
the  wall  of  the  church  yard,  elevated  some  six  feet 
above  the  pavement.  At  an  early  hour  on  Sabbath 
morning-,  crowds  gathered  around  the  closed  church 
wondering  what  would  be  the  result  of  the  published 
appointment.  When  the  appointed  hour  arrived,  the 
old  fox,  ^vith  his  long  and  sturdy  form  and  usually 
dignified  appearance,  came  moving  slowly  out  of  the 
parsonage,  ascended  the  old  pulpit,  and  preached  a 
short  sermon  to  a  large  congregation  of  very  attentive 
but  much  disappointed  hearers. 

Russel  was  a  benevolent  man.  He  took  pleasure  in 
helping  those  who  needed  help.  At  one  time  he 
stopped  over  night  with  one  of  the  itinerant  preachers, 
and  the  next  morning,  after  they  had  breakfasted,  the 
good  wife  came  to  remove  the  dishes,  and  found  a 
five-dollar  note  left  underneath  his  plate.  To  one 
of  the  poor  itinerants  of  Pennsylvania  Conference  he  at 
one  time  gave  $100.  He  was  constantly  doing  some- 
thing of  this  kind,  and  in  such  a  way  that  the  world 
knew  little  about  it.  When  he  lived  in  Baltimore,  he 
remarked  to  a  friend  at  one  time,  that  he  had  never 
turned  a  beggar  awa}^  from  his  door  without  giving 
him  something.  He  would  sell  his  wheat  to  a  poor 
neighbor  .at  $1  a  bushel,  some  of  which  he  knew 
he  would  never  get  (but  he  knew  they  needed  the 
wheat),  when  the  miller  was  willing  to  pay  him  $1.15 
a  bushel  and  take  it  by  the  wagon  load. 

He  was  much  opposed  to  witches,  wizards,  and  all 
sorts  of  hobgoblins.  He  often  had  to  confront  his 
German  brethren  who  were  not  so  orthodox  as  was  he. 


306  JOHN    RUSSEL, 

When  he  lived  at  Baltimore,  a  child  died  on  the  Hooks- 
town  road.  An  old  brother,  who  claimed  to  be  a 
witch-king,  said  the  child  was  killed  by  witches,  that 
he  knew  who  they  were,  and  that  some  of  them  be- 
longed to  the  church.  This  made  so  much  of  a  stir 
that  Russel  was  sent  for  to  quiet  matters.  When  he 
reached  the  place  he  found  the  people  very  much  ex- 
cited over  the  matter.  He  began  to  reprove  the  old 
brother  for  the  disturbance  he  had  made.  The  latter 
said  to  Russel  that  he  had  better  be  careful  how  he 
talked,  that  there  were  witches  all  about  him,  that  it 
would  not  be  safe  for  any  one  to  remain  in  the  house, 
especially  in  the  room  where  the  corpse  lay  that  night. 
Russel  replied  that  he  was  not  afraid  of  all  the  witches 
in  the  city,  so  he  had  them  make  him  a  bed  in  the  room 
and  slept  near  the  corpse  without  injury.  The  old 
witch-king  was  arraigned  before  the  church,  and,  refus- 
ing to  make  acknowledgment  and  leave  his  witchery, 
he  was  expelled. 

In  the  early  days  in  Ohio,  much  of  the  preaching 
was  done  in  the  woods.  One  Sunday  morning,  after 
Russel  had  preached  a  sermon  and  dismissed  the 
congregation,  a  man  mounted  a  seat  and  offered  charm- 
bags  for  sale.  He  described  the  power  of  these  bags 
with  great  vividness.  He  said  they  would  protect 
from  lightning,  shooting,  sickness,  and  accidents  of 
any  and  all  kinds.  Russel's  first  thought  was  to  an- 
nounce a  sermon  on  the  subject  when  he  came  that  way 
again,  but  on  a  little  reflection  concluded  there  was  a 
shorter  and  better  way.  He  asked  the  agent  if  it 
would  protect  a  beast.  "  Oh  yes,  just  as  well  as  a 
man."  "  Will  it  protect  a  rooster  ? "  asked  Russel. 
"  Oh  yes,  any  animal."     So  Russel  had  the  boys  catch 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     307 

him  a  rooster,  and  the  charm-bag  was  tied  around  iis 
neck.  Russel  loaded  the  gun  himself,  and  then,  in  the 
presence  of  the  whole  congregation,  who  were  anxiously 
awaiting  tlie  result,  he  asked  the  man  how  near  he 
might  come  to  the  rooster.  "  Just  as  near  as  you 
please ;  you  can  not  shoot  him  while  the  charm-bag  is 
on  him."  Russel  drew  up  his  gun  and  fired,  and  down 
came  the  rooster.  It  proved  such  a  conclusive  and 
manifest  answer  that  he  never  saw  the  man  or  his 
charm-bag  afterward. 

He  had  quite  a  vein  of  humor,  ^vhich  cropped  out  in 
peculiar  ways.  The  following  is  reported  to  have  oc- 
curred in  his  early  preaching  in  Pennsylvania.  Like 
most  of  the  preachers  of  that  day,  he  traveled  alto- 
gether on  horseback.  He  had  an  arrangement  to  carry 
his  Bible  and  hymn  book  in  front  of  him  in  a  kind  of 
holster,  similar  to  those  used  for  carrying  horse  pis- 
tols. It  was  so  made  that  he  could  lay  his  book  on 
it  and  read  as  he  rode  along.  One  day,  having 
preached  the  previous  night,  he  was  riding  along,  and  a 
man  on  horseback  overtook  him.  He  asked  Russel 
what  he  carried  in  his  holster.  "Pistols"  (epistles), 
Avas  his  reply.  ''  Why,  what  do  you  do  with  pistols? " 
"Shoot  people,"  answered  Russel.  "'And  would  you 
shoot  a  man  ? "  "  Yes,  I  shot  two  last  night,  back 
here."  "What  did  they  do  that  you  shot  them?" 
"  Oh,  nothing;  there  is  a  spirit  gets  possession  of  me,  and 
I  just  fire  away,  no  matter  who  it  hits."  He  saAV  the 
man  was  getting  frightened,  and,  before  he  was  aware 
of  it,  the  poor  fellow  put  whip  to  his  horse  to  escape. 
Russel  called  to  him,  and  started  after  to  explain  the 
matter  to  him,  but  the  traveler  beat  him  in  the  race 
and  o-ot  awav  safelv.     It  is  needless  to  sav  the  man  he 


308  JOHN    RUSSEL, 

shot  on  the  previous  night  had  been  convicted  for  sin 
under  the  sermon  he  preached. 

Many  hardships  had  to  be  endured  by  the  itiner- 
ants of  those  early  days.  He  was  travehng  once  in 
Ohio.  He  plodded  all  the  forenoon  on  a  cool  misty 
day,  and  at  noon  he  became  very  hungry,  but  there 
was  no  house  in  sight.  He  finally  met  a  brother  in  the 
woods,  who  said  he  must  go  home  with  him  for  dinner. 
"  How  far  is  it,"  asked  Russel.  "  Ten  miles."  "Is  there  no 
place  nearer  where  I  can  get  my  dinner  ?  I  am  hungry." 
"  N'o,  mine  is  the  nearest  house.  When  we  get  there, 
dinner  will  be  ready,  and  plenty  of  it."  They  trudged  on, 
and  when  they  got  there  dinner  was  ready,  and  plenty  of 
it,  but  not  a  thing  to  eat  save  a  large  dish  of  boiled 
turnips,  and  Eussel  never  could  eat  cooked  turnips. 
At  this  time  he  was  very  hungry,  and  there  was  nothing 
else  to  eat,  so  he  went  to  work  with  a  vim,  made  a 
hearty  meal,  and  liked  cooked  turnips  ever  after. 

At  one  time,  when  he  was  a  presiding  elder,  he  had 
a  quarterly  meeting  to  attend,  and  on  his  way  had  to 
spend  the  night  with  a  dirty  Irish  family.  He  ate  no 
supper  and  in  the  morning  there  was  nothing  for  break- 
fast but  some  cold,  soggy  biscuits  and  rancid  butter, 
which,  hungry  though  he  was,  he  could  not  eat.  He 
started  off  without  his  breakfast,  having  about  twenty 
miles  to  ride.  The  roads  were  bad  and  the  streams 
swollen,  with  no  bridges  over  them.  He  came  to  one 
of  those  streams  with  the  banks  full  and  the  current 
rapid,  and  he  w^as  afraid  to  venture  in.  Wliile  consid- 
ermg  wliat  to  do  he  saw  a  tree,  or  log,  lying  across,  a 
little  above  him.  He  carried  his  saddle-bags  and  um- 
brella across  on  the  log,  then  started  the  horse  in, 
intending,  while   she  swam    over    to  run  around  and 


THIETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     309 

catch  her  as  she  came  out  on  the  other  side.  But  she 
had  such  a  struggle  with  the  current  that  he  forgot 
his  running  around.  So  she  reached  the  opposite  shore 
first  and  trotted  off.  He  shouldered  his  baggage  and 
walked  on  after  her.  She  would  stop  and  pick  a  little 
grass  until  he  came  up  with  her,  and  then  she  would 
trot  off  and  leave  him.  She  did  this  for  some  time. 
Finally,  going  up  a  hill,  he  gave  out,  sat  down  on  the 
saddle  and  told  God  tliat  he  had  that  meeting  on  his 
hands  and  could  not  get  there  without  his  horse ;  that  if 
He  wanted  him  to  hold  that  meeting  He  must  help  him 
catch  Dolly.  He  rapped  on  the  saddle,  called  her 
again,  and  she  came  walking  back  to  him.  He  felt  very 
sure  til  at  God  at  that  time  answered  that  prayer. 
"When  he  reached  the  place  of  meeting,  he  found  the 
people  gathered  together,  but  he  told  them  he  must 
have  something  to  eat  before  he  could  preach,  so  they 
sang  and  prayed,  as  was  the  custom  in  the  olden  time, 
and  the}^  had  a  season  of  great  power  in  the  woods. 
He  was  at  one  time  called  to  attend  a  funeral  for 
the  Lutherans.  During  the  time  of  service,  most  of  the 
people  kept  their  hats  on,  which  was  offensive  to  him. 
As  they  sat  down  to  table,  after  giving  thanks  he 
called  for  his  hat,  and,  as  they  had  theirs  off,  he  put  his  on 
his  head,  expecting  to  give  a  reason  for  so  doing.  Oppo- 
site him  sat  a  man  who  had  a  large  black  beard.  Rus- 
sel  asked  him  if -he  belonged  to  the  Dunkards.  "No," 
he  answered  somewhat  indefinitely,  "I  belong  no- 
where." Said  Russel,  "  It  may  be  with  you  as  with  me 
before  I  was  converted  —  I  thouo-ht  I  belono-ed  nowhere, 
but  when  the  light  of  God  shone  into  my  heart  I 
found  I  belonged  to  the  devil."  The  man  choked  a 
little,  got  up  from  the  table  and  went  out.  The  re- 
mainder sat  in  silence. 


310  JOHN    RtrSSEL, 

In  company  with  some  preachers  going  to  confer- 
ence, it  fell  to  his  lot  to  preach  a  sermon  while  riding. 
He  says,  "  I  proposed  if  they  rode  slowly  and  close 
together  I  would  try.  We  sang  a  hymn,  offered  a 
prayer,  read  a  text  and  I  preached.  I  became  quite 
excited.  The  people  stood  in  their  doors  as  we  passed 
by  ;  some  got  on  their  horses  and  came  after  us,  won- 
dering what  was  going  on.  Bishop  Heistand  said  he 
felt  agreeably  entertained,  and  wished  there  was  more 
of  this  adopted  among  us.  It  seemed  that  even  our 
horses  were  cheered,  especially  by  the  singing." 

"I  was  honored  by  a  visit  from  Brother  J.  B.  Erb, 
from  the  East.  I  did  my  utmost  to  make  him  com- 
fortable. Among  the  rest,  I  prepared  water  and  be- 
gan to  wash  his  feet,  very  humbly.  '  I  must  wash 
your  feet  also,'  he  said.  After  this  was  done,  we 
both  felt  happy  ;  we  both  agreed  that  in  this  way  we ' 
had  done  the  commandment  of  our  Lord." 

In  1837  his  congregation  in  Richland  county  was  a 
mixture  of  German  and  English,  and  did  not  tire 
readily  of  hearing  preaching.  After  a  long  German 
sermon,  the  English  would  ask  to  have  the  same  ser- 
mon in  English.  This  was  given  them.  After  this 
he  took  a  different  plan.  "I  would  read  my  text 
and  divide  it  in  German,  then  read  the  same  text  in 
English  and  divide  it  in  the  same  way,  then  speak  in 
one  part,  first  German,  then  English,  and  so  on  until 
the  whole  was  gone  through  with.  This  will  take 
some  three  hours.  In  all  my  travels,  I  found  no 
people  so  anxious  to  hear  the  word  of  God  as  in  Eich- 
land  county." 

At  one  time  Russel  met  a  German  shoemaker  in 
Sherman's  Yalley,  Pa.     He  was  a  lover  of  his  Bible, 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     311 

and  kept  it  at  his  bench.  "When  approached  by  Russel 
at  one  time,  he  said  :  " '  Tliat  book  converted  my  soul  in 
my  youth,  and  I  have  committed  to  memory  the  whole 
except  Revelations,  which  is  so  full  of  mystery  that  I 
have  failed  to  get  it  by  heart.'  This  astonished  me  so 
much  I  walked  away  thinking  over  it,  and,  not  able  to 
credit  what  he  had  said,  I  came  back  and  asked  permis- 
sion to  try  him.  I  took  the  Bible  and  turned  to  the  first 
part.  He  ran  over  chapter  after  chapter,  working  all 
the  time,  until  I  was  so  far  satisfied.  Then  I  turned 
several  pages,  read  a  verse  here  and  there,  and  asked 
where  it  was  found,  and  he  told  me.  In  this  way  I 
turned  from  one  part  of  the  Old  Testament  to  another 
until  I  was  satisfied.  Then  he  began  to  repeat  whole 
chapters  in  the  Psalms  and  some  of  them  backward 
until  I  was  fully  satisfied,  I  said  to  him  it  would  be  an 
easy  thing  for  him  to  preach.  'No,'  he  said,  'I  have 
not  Avisdom  and  judgment  enough  to  form  into  a  ser- 
mon what  I  know.'  Last  of  all,  I  would  name  the 
verse,  chapter  and  book,  and  he  would  repeat  the  verse. 
I  was  entirely  convinced,  and  looked  on  this  man  as  a 
marvel.  If  I  had  taken  this  course  as  soon  as  I  was 
converted,  I  would  have  needed  no  other  book,  day  or 
night,  save  the  Bible.  Other  books  were  recommended 
to  me  by  my  friends,  and  here  I  made  the  greatest  mis- 
take of  my  life.  John  Arnt  was  his  own  concordance. 
WilUam  Otterbein  seldom  spoke  a  sentence  but  it  was 
associated  with  a  similar  text  of  Scripture." 

While  a  young  man,  one  of  his  preaching  places  was 
about  four  miles  north  of  the  Juniata  river,  Pa.  A  man 
of  passionate  temper,  who  lived  there,  let  the  basement 
of  his  house  for  preaching  purposes,  and  it  was  gen- 
erally crowded.     One  evening,  when  Russel  was  about 


312  JOHN    KUSSEL, 

half  through  with  his  sermon,  this  man  jmnpecl  to  his 
feet,  rushed  through  the  crowd,  and  ran  up  stairs,  stamp- 
ing on  the  floor  at  a  terrible  rate.  The  people  rushed 
to  the  door,  and  the  preacher  was  left  alone.  A  man 
came  in  and  told  him  he  should  leave,  as  he  was  in  great 
danger.  Eussel  left,  tarried  in  the  neighborhood  all 
night,  and  in  the  morning  went  to  this  house  to  get  his 
satchel.  The  owner  stood  in  the  door,  and  would  not 
allow  Eussel  to  come  in,  but  threw  it  out  to  him  as  far 
as  he  could  throw.  Russel  said,  "  It  will  not  do  to  part 
this  way;  you  are  giving  me  no  chance  to  make  confes- 
sion." He  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then  said,  "  Come 
in,  I  won't  hurt  you."  Eussel  sat  down  with  him  in  the 
room  and  said  to  him,  '-Now  I  willconfess  my  wrong  if 
you  will  tell  me  what  it  is."  He  said, "  The  sermon  you 
preached  last  night  Avas  all  on  me;  my  neighbors  must 
have  told  you  all  about  me." 

"  Not  a  word,"  Eussel  answered. 

"  Is  that  so  ? " 

"Yes,  it  is  certainly  so." 

"Well,  it  made  me  mad  to  be  abused  so  in  my  own 
house.  You  may  have  another  appointment."  So 
they  parted,  and  as  time  passed  on  the  family  became 
pious,  so  it  was  not  seed  sown  in  vain. 

In  1809  he  came  to  Ohio  and  was  sent  in  the  rea'ion 
of  the  Miami  river.  His  meetings  were  attended  by  a 
class  of  people  called  "  IS'ew  Lights,"  who  seemed  to 
take  a  great  interest  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  Their 
manner  of  exercising  interested  him  very  much.  The 
women  would  get  w^hat  was  called  "  the  jerks."  They 
would  throw  their  heads  backward  and  forward  in 
such  a  way  that  their  necks  would  crack  like  a  wagon 
whip,    and  then  throw  themselves  across  the  benches 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHEEN  IN  CHRIST.      313 

as  if  their  bones  would  break.  The  men  would  stand 
on  one  leg,  with  the  other  drawn  up  to  the  body,  and, 
springing  up  and  down,  their  heads  went  back,  and 
they  would  sing  with  all  their  might  a  hymn  that  had 
this  chorus  to  it  — 

"  We  have  a  little  sister. 
She  has  a  copper  bottom, 
Sail  oh,  sail  oh." 

"  We  asked  some  of  the  women  if  they  were  not 
hurt."  "Oh  no,"  they  said,  "we  feel  like  a  feather ; 
we  could  bear  to  be  crucified  ;  it  is  a  heavenly  feeling." 
Some  asked  him  why  he  was  so  downhearted,  and  he 
answered,  that  he  was  trying  the  spirits.  Tliey  replied, 
"  the  wind  bloweth  wlTere  it  listeth."  He  wished  him- 
self back  to  his  former  circuit. 

'  A  camp  meeting  was  held  by  Russel  at  Lower  San- 
dusky, on  Father  Baulus'  land.  The  cholera  had 
broken  out  in  the  town  about  two  miles  away,  and  was 
so  fatal  that  ail  connection  was  forbidden  with  the 
town.  The  meeting  was  continued  six  days,  and  not 
a  single  case  of  cholera  occurred  on  the  camp  ground. 
When  the  meeting  closed,  the  citizens  of  the  place 
asked  of  Russel  to  move  into  the  vacant  tents.  Baulus 
allowed  them,  on  condition  that  they  would  sing  and 
pray.  All  came  that  could,  and  the  work  began  in 
earnest.  Baulus  preached  to  them  every  day  ;  many 
wicked  persons  were  made  serious.  The  w^eek  after 
this  camp  meeting  another  was  held  about  twenty 
miles  away,  on  Honey  creek.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  cholera  was  raging  in  many  places,  great  crowds 
of  people  came.  When  services  were  wanted  they 
would  come  with  a  rush,  screaming  while  coming.  It 
was  a  very  powerful  meeting. 


314  JOHN    RUSSEL, 

When  in  Pike  county,  Russel  went  to  look  np  a 
place  for  baptismal  service.  He  saw  some  roughs 
watching  him,  to  see  where  he  proposed  to  baptize.  It 
was  customary  on  such  occasions  for  the  rowdies  to  go 
before  and  roll  logs  in  the  stream  to  muddy  the  water. 
Says  Russel :  "  I  walked  up  the  stream,  which  was  near 
the  camp ;  here  I  looked  out  a  place,  the  rowdies  follow- 
ing at  a  distance.  Then  I  went  back  to  where  I  had  been, 
stuck  up  a  stake  and  then  left.  On  the  day  of  baptiz- 
ing, I  instructed  the  brethren  to  keep  close  to  me  and 
I  would  lead  the  way.  The  rowdies,  who  knew  where 
the  stake  was,  commenced  muddying  the  water,  the 
whole  congregation  going  after  them ;  we  turned  right 
about,  struck  for  the  other  place,  and  being  much  under 
timber  were  hid  from  their  view.  Baptism  passed  off 
nicely,  and  the  rowdies  were  not  aware  of  it  until  we 
were  on  our  way  to  camp,  rejoicing." 

Scioto  Circuit  was  sometimes  called  the  United 
Brethren  College,  because  here  they  would  send  their 
young  men  to  get  them  trained  to  hardships  and  rough 
fare.  To  this  section  Eussel  sent  an  old  Quaker,  who 
asked  for  work  in  the  ministry,  stating  that  he  had  but 
seven  years  to  live,  and  wished  to  spend  it  in  calling  sin- 
ners to  repentance.  He  had  enough  to  live  on,  and  was 
therefore  not  particular  as  to  the  support.  If  Russel 
would  give  him  a  permit,  he  would  go  wherever  he 
would  send  him.  He  was  sent  there  for  six  months.  He 
found  the  place,  and  in  six  weeks  came  back,  saying,  "  I 
could  stand  the  country,  but  not  the  people.  Some  of 
them  are  so  filthy  I  can  not  stay  with  them  long  enough 
to  have  them  converted,  and  that  everlasting  corn 
bread  my  stomach  will  not  bear."  The  old  Quaker 
returned  to  his  farm  quite  cured  of  his  preaching  spirit. 


THIRTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     315 

"When  Russel  was  still  a  single  man,  about  the  year 
1818,  he  held  a  night  meeting  at  a  place  in  Franklin 
county,  Pa.  The  weather  was  quite  warm,  and  when 
he  reached  the  house  where  the  meeting  was  to  be 
held,  it  was  already  filling  up  fast.  He  entered  a  gate 
so  as  to  go  in  the  back  door ;  in  so  doing  he  slipped 
into  a  pit  dug  in  the  ground,  filled  with  water  and 
offal  from  the  table.  After  he  got  out  he  Avent  to  the 
pump  and  got  under  the  spout  to  wash.  The  man  of 
the  house  came  out,  inquiring  where  the  preacher  was. 
Russel  answered  him,  and  it  being  very  dark,  he  came 
to  the  pump  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  He  said, 
"  Man  of  the  ground,  what  doest  thou  here  ? "  "  Hush ! " 
said  Eussel,  "if  the  people  find  where  I  am,  they  will 
all  rush  here,  thinking  I  have  cut  my  throat.  Here, 
take  this  handle  and  pump  with  all  your  might." 
Russel  says  of  this,  "  I  soon  crowded  into  the  room,  wet 
and  barefooted,  preached  with  unusual  liberty,  made  a 
good  impression,  and  the  people  were  none  the  wiser 
of  m}''  mishap." 

Russel's  last  home  was  near  Keedysville,  Md., 
not  very  far  from  the  battlefield  of  Antietam.  His 
home  was  used  as  a  hospital  for  a  time,  under  the 
name  of  Locust  Grove  Hospital.  The  fourteen  rooms 
were  all  full  of  sick  and  wounded  during  the  Antietam 
battle,  and  he  aided  as  best  he  could  in  caring  for 
them.  In  1870,  when  the  United  Brethren  Church 
Avas  built  at  Keedysville,  he  gave  some  money  in  his 
wife's  name  for  a  good  bell  to  place  on  it.  "When  the 
bell  was  first  put  in  its  place  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Geet- 
ing,  called  him  out  to  hear  it  ring.  This  was  the  last 
time  he  was  out.  The  first  death  which  the  new  bell 
announced  was  his  own.     He  died  December  21, 1870, 


316  JOHN    RUSSEL 

and  his  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Bishop  Dick- 
son. Russel's  grandfather  had  been  converted  under 
the  labors  of  Otterbein.  The  latter  often  stopped  at 
Russel's  and  at  Geeting's.  Otterbein  preached  the 
grandfather's  funeral  sermon,  and  after  the  burial  serv- 
ices he  sat  under  a  large  tree  near  the  house  and 
comforted  the  aged  grandmother.  Russel  arranged 
before  his  death  that  he  should  be  buried  in  his  grand- 
father's grave  at  Mt.  Hebron.  This  was  done,  but  his 
remains  have  since  been  removed  to  the  cemetery  in 
Keedysville,  Md.  His  two  daughters,  Mrs.  Geet- 
ing  and  Mrs.  Emmert,  still  survive  him. 


"ULe^^T^ 


--^^c-d^ 


REV.  JOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBRENNER,  D.  D. 
FOURTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


■yOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBPvElSrJS'ER  was  born  in 
fj  Hagerstown,  Md.,  July  24,  1812.  His  parents, 
Peter  and  Christiana  Glossbrenner,  were  of  Ger- 
man descent,  and  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
When  about  six  years  of  age  his  father  died,  leaving 
his  mother  in  very  limited  circumstances.  As  a  result, 
he,  with  his  only  brother,  Adam,  was  at  an  early  age 
placed  among  strangers.  John  J.  was  sent  to  learn  the 
trade  of  silversmith  under  Mr.  John  Reynolds,  of 
Hagerstown,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  Until  his  twelfth  year  he  was  a  regular 
attendant  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Among  his  most 
cherished  recollections  were  the  impressions  made  upon 
his  young  mind  by  the  plain  and  affectionate  preaching 
of  Rev.  B.  Kurtz,  afterward  editor  of  i\\Q  Luthe^^an  Oh- 
server.  For  several  years  after  he  went  to  his  trade, 
he  manifested  but  little  interest  in  the  subject  of  relig- 
ion, and  though  strictly  moral,  he  had  gone  astray 
from  God.  In  his  seventeenth  year  he  was  awakened 
to  a  sense  of  his  lost  condition,  while  listening  to  the 
preaching  of  Rev.  Mr.  Gibbens,  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  He  at  once  began  to  seek  a  change  of 
heart,  and  after  months  of  effort,  he  experienced  a  per- 
sonal knowledge  of  salvation.  He  sought  and  obtained 
the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  that  he  was  a  child  of  God. 
He  had  reached  a  very  important  period  in  his  his- 
tory. 

317 


818  JOHN  JAC015  GLOSSBRENNEK, 

Soon  after  his  conversion,  he  was  made  leader  of  a 
class  of  young  persons,  who  had  obtained  religion 
about  the  same  time  with  himself.  This  was  a  period 
of  great  profit,  and  of  great  pleasure  to  him.  He  says 
of  it  himself,  "We  had  glorious  times  while  in  our 
simplicity  and  singleness  of  heart  we  met  together  to 
sing  and  pray  and  encourage  each  other.  The  Lord 
met  with  us  and  filled  us  unutterably  full  of  glory  and 
of  God.  It  is  good  for  a  man  to  bear  the  yoke  in  his 
youth."  When  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  became 
acquainted  with  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ,  and 
being  pleased  with  their  doctrine  and  discipline,  he  felt 
impressed  to  connect  himself  with  them.  Soon  after 
his  connection  with  this  body  of  Christians,  he  was 
given  license  to  exhort,  signed  by  George  A.  Geeting. 

He  soon  felt  impressed  to  enter  more  fully  into  the 
work  of  the  ministry,  and  to  give  himself  unreservedly 
to  the  work  of  saving  men.  With  this  end  in  view 
he  used  every  means  within  his  reach  to  quahfy 
himself  for  his  work.  As  fast  as  means  came  into 
his  hands,  he  used  it  for  the  purchase  of  books,  to 
the  study  of  which  he  diligently  applied  himself. 
About  this  time  Eev.  Mr.  Kurtz,  whose  ministry  had 
been  so  helpful  to  him  in  his  earlier  years,  offered 
to  place  within  his  reach  the  means  of  a  college  edu- 
cation, and  a  thorough  preparation  for  the  ministry. 
We  wish  he  had  accepted  the  offer ;  but  while  feeling 
very  grateful  for  it,  Mr.  Glossbrenner  was  constrained 
to  decline  it,  believing  it  to  be  his  duty  to  go  forth  to 
preach  Christ.  He  did  this,  being  careful,  however,  to 
obey  the  apostle's  instruction,  "  give  attendance  to 
reading."  As  he  grew  older,  his  views  widened  along 
these  lines,  and  he  urged  his  younger  brethren,  when- 


FOUKTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     319 

ever  practicable,  to  secure  the  best  possible  preparation 
for  their  work. 

In  1831,  when  about  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  attended 
the  Virginia  Annual  Conference,  which  met  in  Shenan- 
doah countj^  where  he  was  admitted  into  the  conference 
and  licensed  to  preach.  Rev.  William  Brown  was  the 
presiding  bishop  at  this  time.  When  about  to  start  to 
conference  with  a  view  to  enter  the  itinerant  ministry', 
he  needed  a  horse  and  had  not  the  means  to  buy. 
Whatever  else  the  circuits  of  that  day  may  have  lacked, 
they  did  not  lack  in  size,  hence  the  preachers  had 
abundance  of  opportunity  to  travel.  Certain  brethren 
who  were  anxious  to  see  this  young  man  have  a  good 
start,  among  whom  were  Valentine  and  Jacob  Doub, 
John  and  Joseph  Hershey,  John  Statler  and  Henry 
Burtner,  contributed  means  and  purchased  a  horse  for 
him.  This  timely  act  was  ever  after  held  in  grateful 
remembrance  by  him,  and  is  an  example  worthy  of 
imitation.  From  the  conference  in  Shenandoah  he  was 
sent  to  llagerstown  circuit,  a  circuit  numerous  in 
preaching  places  and  large  in  territory,  covering  the 
greater  part  of  the  counties  of  Washington  and  Fred- 
erick in  Maryland.  At  the  next  conference  he  was  sent 
to  a  large  field  of  labor  in  the  valley  of  Virginia,  in 
connection  with  Brothers  Hershey  and  Haney.  On  both 
of  these  fields  he  did  the  work  of  an  evangelist,  and 
made  full  proof  of  his  ministry. 

During  his  first  year  in  the  valle}'^  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Miss  Maria  M.  Sliuey,  of  Augusta  county, 
whose  hand  he  sought  in  marriage.  This  was  consum- 
mated Februar}^  1-1,  1833.  He  found  in  her  a  wife 
every  way  worthy  of  his  hand  and  heart.  To  them 
were    born    six  children :  one   died   in    infancy ;   the 


320  JOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBRENNER, 

oldest,  Catherine,  was  niarried  to  D.  K.  Flickinger,  and 
died  after  a  few  short  months  of  married  life ;  the 
second  one,  Eliza,  married  Prof.  W,  B.  Yonce,  of 
Roanoke  College,  at  Salem,  Ya.,  and  is  also  dead ;  the 
oldest  of  the  living  daughters,  Sarah  Cornelia.,  is  mar- 
ried to  Mr.  H.  K.  Hanger,  a  merchant  of  Churchville, 
Ya.  Maria,  the  next  youngest,  is  married  to  Rev.  J. 
H.  Turner,  of  the  Lutherville  Female  Seminary,  Mary- 
land ;  Henrietta  C,  the  youngest  child,  is  niarried  to 
Rev.  L.  M.  Fox,  D.  D.,  professor  in  Roanoke  College, 
Yirginia. 

On  the  14th  of  February,  1883,  a  company  of  friends 
met  at  the  home  of  Bishop  Glossbrenner  to  celebrate 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  marriage.  Many  of  his 
friends  could  not  be  there,  and  many  of  them  sent 
letters  and  other  testimonials  of  congratulations  and 
greeting.  At  this  time  the  bishop  was  in  the  seventy- 
first  year  of  his  age.  Mrs.  Glossbrenner  was  in  her 
sixty-seventh  year.  The  bishop  in  some  introductory 
remarks  made  on  this  occasion,  said  he  had  been  mar- 
ried four  times  in  his  Ufe.  The  first  was  when  he  was 
converted,  the  second  was  Avhen  he  joined  the  church, 
the  third  when  he  took  upon  himself  the  vows  of  the 
Christian  minister,  and  the  "  fourth,  the  marriage,  the 
anniversary  of  which  we  now  celebrate.  It  has  not 
been  broken  these  fifty  years.  These  j'^ears  have  been 
spent  in  love  and  confidence.  I  can  only  say,  the  Lord 
is  good ;  His  mercy  endureth  forever." 

When  the  bishop  was  first  married,  it  being  St. 
Yalentine's  day,  he  made  his  wife  a  present  of  a  valen- 
tine. On  the  fiftieth  anniversary  she  returned  the 
compliment,  b}^  presenting  him  one,  through  their  son- 
in-law,  Rev.  Mr.   Turner,  who   said,  "How  much  of 


FOUKTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHREN  IN  CHKIST.    321 

sorrow  and  joy  in  fifty  years  !  History  has  not  written 
down  all  these  events.  These  fifty  years  of  j^our  fife 
have  been  important  years  to  the  world  and  to  the 
church  especially.  There  were  few  missionaries  then  ; 
now,  everywhere  the  Christian  religion  is  preached. 
To-  you,  my  dear  father  and  mother,  may  there  be 
added  to  your  history  many  years.  Fifty  3^ears  ago 
your  bridal  tour  was  not  in  a  palace  car.  No  words 
of  sympathy  were  then  whispered  over  wires  to  friends 
hundreds  of  miles  away.  Truly  these  have  been  fifty 
years  full  of  events.  What  of  the  next  fifty  years  ? 
No  couple  celebrates  the  second  fifty  years  in  this 
world.  Fifty  years  from  now  will  find  us  enjoying 
other  scenes.  May  God  give  you  many  returns  of 
your  marriage  day,  and  ma}''  we  all  meet  at  the  mar- 
riage supper  of  the  Lamb." 

On  speaking  of  his  past  life,  the  bishop  said  :  "  Some 
hardships  I  have  passed  through,  but  not  alone;  my 
wife,  my  true  and  faithful  companion,  endured  them 
with  me.  The  cares  of  my  family  in  the  earlier  years 
of  my  ministry  rested  on  my  wife.  A  good  wife  is  a 
blessing  of  God.  She  never  said  '  Locate.'  Our  salary 
was  then  $80  per  year,  afterward,  for  some  years, 
$160,  but  we  lived  through  all.  Now  we  are  monu- 
ments of  grace  and  mercy." 

Mrs.  Glossbrenner  sat,  during  the  exercises,  near  the 
bishop,  unable  to  restrain  the  tears  which  came,  as  the 
words  of  the  bishop  and  others  so  moved  all  who  were 
present.  The  wish  of  all,  at  this  hour,  turned  to  the 
absent  mother,  Mrs.  Catherine  Shuey,  then  in  her 
eighty-seventh  year,  and  who,  perhaps,  was  the  only 
one  living  who  witnessed  the  earlv  marriage  of  her 
daughter.     She  was  in  moderate  health  only,  and  was 


322  JOHN  JACOB  (JL0SS15RENNER, 

not  able  to  be  present  at  the  golden  wedding  of  her 
daughter. 

At  the  session  of  his  conference  in  1833,  Mr.  Gloss- 
brenner  was  ordained  to  the  olSce  of  elder  in  the  church, 
Rev.  William  Brown  officiating  as  bishop.  From 
this  conference  he  was  sent  to  Staunton  circuit,  where 
he  labored  with  great  acceptability.  In  1834  he  was 
elected  presiding  elder,  and  stationed  on  the  Virginia 
district.  He  was  then  about  twenty-two  3^ears  of  age. 
He  performed  the  duties  of  this  office  for  three  years 
successively,  having  been  twice  reelected.  In  the 
capacity  of  circuit  preacher  and  presiding  elder  he  con- 
tinued to  travel  through  the  greater  portion  of  Vir- 
ginia, from  1831  to  1845,  a  period  of  fourteen  years. 

Having  come  into  the  church  so  early,  and  having 
become  prominent  in  connection  with  its  more  public 
work  at  an  early  age,  those  not  acquainted  with  him 
began  to  think  of  him  as  much  older  than  he  really 
was.  In  that  early  period  he  Avas  at  one  time  intro- 
duced to  an  aged  father  in  the  church,  as  Br-other 
Glossbrenner.  The  old  man  held  him  affectionatelj^  by 
the  hand,  and  looked  inquiringly  into  his  face,  as 
though  a  little  puzzled  to  know  just  what  the  thing 
meant,  and  then  said,  "  Are  you  old  Brother  Gloss- 
brenner's  son  ?  "  Mr.  Glossbrenner,  with  a  twinkle  in 
his  eye,  replied,  "  No,  I  am  the  old  man  himself P 

A  singular  stor\^  is  told  of  his  election,  probably  the 
first  time,  to  the  eldership.  It  was  customary  in  that 
early  day  to  close  the  regular  Avork  of  the  conference,  and 
have  preaching  at  a  certain  hour,  by  the  bishop  or  some 
other  one  selected  for  the  purpose.  Bishop  William 
Brown  was  holding  the  conference,  and  was  to  preach 
the  sermon  that  morning.     Just  as  he  was  on  the  steps 


FOURTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    323 

leading  to  the  pulpit,  it  occurred  to  him  that  one  im- 
portant item  of  business  had  been  omitted,  so  with  his 
foot  on  the  steps  ascending  the  pulpit,  he  turned  about, 
and  facing  the  members  of  the  conference  said,  "  I 
move  that  Brother  Glossbrenner  be  made  presiding 
elder,"  and  without  waiting  for  the  motion  to  be 
seconded  by  any  one,  proceeded  to  put  the  question, 
"  As  many  as  favor  it  will  say  aye,"  and  it  was  carried 
unanimously.  Of  course  all  were  satisfied  with  the  re- 
sult, but  with  our  modern  notions  of  business,  such  a 
movement  on  the  part  of  the  bishops  would  seem  a 
little  irregular  and  unparliamentary.  Glossbrenner 
used  to  laugh  over  the  matter  himself,  and  say  of  it, 
had  it  not  been  for  Bishop  Brown  he  might  never  have 
been  elected  presiding  elder. 

He  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of 
1837,  which  met  at  Germantown,  Ohio.  This  meeting- 
was  a  memorable  one,  from  the  fact  that  at  this  time 
steps  were  taken  to  secure  a  constitution  "  for  the  bet- 
ter regulation  of  the  church."  He  was  also  a  delegate 
to  the  General  Conference  of  1841,  at  Dresbach's 
church,  in  Pickaway  county,  Ohio,  when  the  constitu- 
tion, under  which  we  have  ever  since  lived,  was 
adopted.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  one  that  met  at 
Circleville,  in  1845,  at  which  time  and  place  he  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  bishop.  He  was  at  this  time 
about  thirty-three  years  of  age.  He  was  elected  at 
nine  successive  conferences,  having  charge  of  a  diocese 
for  forty  years.  At  the  General  Conference  of  1 885, 
which  met  at  Fostoria,  when  it  was  feared  he  could 
not  perform  the  active  work  which  seemed  necessary 
for  a  bishop  to  do,  it  was  suggested  tliat  he  be  hon- 
ored with  a  complimentary  position  on  the  board  of 


324  JOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBKENNEE, 

bishops.  Before  the  balloting  began  he  said  :  "  Since 
the  commencement  of  this  session,  persons  have  come 
to  me  to  know  where  I  was,  what  my  position  Avas, 
and  whether  I  would  suffer  my  name  to  be  used.  I  told 
them,  and  tell  you  all,  that  I  am  in  the  hands  of  the 
Lord  and  the  church,  and  whatever  disposition  the 
church  shall  make  of  me  will  be  satisfactory  to  me. 
As  I  am  getting  older,  I  want  to  retain  a  sweet  spirit, 
and  no  matter  what  the  decision  of  the  General  Con- 
ference may  be,  I  hope  I  may  never  get  on  the  grum- 
bling-stool.'" At  the  close  of  these  remarks  it  was  pro- 
posed to  make  him  bishop-at-large,  and  it  required  great 
effort  to  prevent  this  motion  from  going  through  with 
a  rush.  The  discipline  knows  nothing  of  such  an  office 
as  this,  and  it  was  thought  best  to  take  a  little  time  to 
meet  the  emergency.  Afterward  the  disciphne  was  so 
amended  as  to  allow  for  the  election  of  a  bishop 
emeritus y  when  the  conference  may  feel  disposed  to  do 
so.  Glossbrenner  was  so  elected,  "  and  was  entitled 
to  a  seat  in  the  councils,  and  a  ballot ;  in  fact,  all  the 
honors  and  privileges  inhering  in  the  office ;  but  that 
lie  be  not  required  to  perform  any  labor,  only  at  such 
times  and  places  as  may  suit  his  convenience  and 
strength  to  accomplish."  After  the  report  was  adopt- 
ed, and  Glossbrenner  elected  as  bishop  emeritus,  an 
honor  never  before  conferred  upon  any  member  in  this 
church,  the  following  resolution  was  adopted  by  a 
hearty  rising  vote : 

''  1st.  That  Bishop  Glossbrenner  has  the  united  con- 
fidence and  affection  of  our  hearts,  and  we  Avill  ever 
remember  him  in  our  prayers.  2d.  That  while  we 
have  exacted  no  duties  at  his  hands  we  will  warmly 
and  cheerfullv  welcome  him  to  our  conferences  in  anv 


FOURTEP;XTIT  lUSUOP  UNITED  BEETHEEX  IN  CHRIST.    825 

duty  which  he  in  council  with  his  associates  may  deem 
himself  able  to  perform." 

The  General  Conference  of  1865  met  in  Western, 
Iowa,  at  the  close  of  the  war.  "We  had  gone  through 
a  long  and  bloody  struggle,  and  men's  passions  had 
not  yet  quieted  down.  A  portion  of  the  previous  four 
years  had  been  spent  by  Glossbrenner  awa\'  from  his 
diocese,  and  in  the  bounds  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
Markwood,  with  his  hot,  fiery,  impetuous  nature,  was 
compelled  to  flee.  There  were  suspicions  on  the  part 
of  a  very  few  that  Glossbrenner  could  not  have  been 
loyal  or  he  would  have  shared  the  same  fate.  He  ex- 
plained his  record  so  satisfactorily  to  the  conference 
that  he  was  again  elected,  his  vote  being  sixty-three, 
and  that  of  Markwood  only  sixty -six.  Some  very 
strong  resolutions  were  adopted  at  this  conference,  and 
Glossbrenner  voted  for  them.  For  his  vote  on  these,  he 
was  attacked  by  a  Virginia  ])aper  on  his  return,  but 
the  writer  allows  that  while  he  was  supposed  to  be  in 
svmpathy  with  the  North,  he  had  a  character  which 
commended  him  to  the  confidence  of  the  South 

During  the  war,  when  he  could  not  meet  his  confer- 
ferences  he  remained  in  the  South  and  employed  all 
his  time  and  energies  in  caring  for  the  flock,  that  they 
be  not  scattered.  He  had  special  fitness  and  peculiar 
opportunities  for  this  work.  Within  the  limits  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy  clergymen  were  excepted  from 
the  effects  of  the  conscription  law.  Great  res})ect  was 
l)aid  to  the  office  of  a  minister.  He  was  made  presid- 
ing elder  during  this  time,  preached  regularly  and  held 
his  meetings  when  nothing  prevented.  He  was  often 
asked  to  preach  to  the  rebel  soldiers,  and  to  members 
of  other  denominations.     He  was  prudent,  careful,  con- 


326  JOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBEENNEE, 

servative  and  in  his  preaching  kept  aloof  as  far  as 
possible  from  the  distractions  of  the  times.  Kev.  Mr. 
Brashear,  who  was  for  a  time  presiding  elder  during 
the  war,  having  learned  that  the  rebels  were  driven 
back  from  a  certain  point,  concluded  that  they  had 
gone  to  stay,  and  so  praj^ed  that  they  might  be  sub- 
dued. It  was  not  long  before  they  returned  and  Mr. 
Brashear  was  compelled  to  liee.  Mr.  Glossbrenner 
would  make  no  such  mistakes  as  that.  He  Avas  careful 
and  discreet,  and  had  the  confidence  of  both  sides. 
He  knew  the  strength  of  the  North  as  most  Southern 
men  did  not  know  it,  and  he  privately  advised  his 
friends  that  the  South  could  not  succeed.  He  was 
considered  by  those  who  knew  him  at  this  time  to 
be  tlie  most  eloquent  preacher  in  Virginia.  This  gave 
him  very  great  influence  in  and  out  of  the  church, 
and  his  remaining  there  was  a  source  of  confidence 
to  both  preacher  and  people.  Without  his  help  the 
church  would  have  become  greatly  dispirited.  His 
choice  of  subjects  for  the  pulpit,  and  the  subject 
matter  for  his  sermons,  were  somewhat  restricted,  but 
better  for  him  thus  to  keep  his  people  together  and 
prepare  them  for  heaven,  than  to  have  touched  forbid- 
den subjects  and  lost  all  opportunity  for  helping  his 
hearers. 

In  the  year  1853  considerable  attention  was  given 
to  the  subject  of  depravity  in  the  General  Conference. 
It  came  up  on  a  proposition  to  strike  out  the  word  "  de- 
pravity "  from  the  questions  asked  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  and  a  different  question  substituted.  After 
quite  an  exciting  discussion,  the  question  was  so  modi- 
fied as  to  read,  "  Do  you  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  nat- 
ural, hereditary,  complete  depravity  'i  "    An  explanation 


FOURTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHEEN  IN  CHEIST.    327 

of  this  was  offered  by  Glossbrenner,  and  appended  in  a 
note :  "  1.  By  '  depravity '  is  meant,  not  guilt  nor  liabil- 
ity to  punishment,  but  the  absence  of  holiness,  which 
unfits  a  man  for  heaven.  2.  By  '  natural '  is  meant  that 
man  is  born  with  this  absence  of  holiness.  3.  By 
'  hereditary '  is  meant  that  this  unholy  state  is  inherited 
from  Adam.  4.  By  '  total'  or  'complete'  is  not  meant 
that  a  man  or  child  can  not  become  more  unholy,  or 
that  he  is  irrecoverably  unholy,  nor  that  he  is  a  mass 
of  corruption,  but  that  this  absence  of  holiness  must  be 
predicated  of  all  the  faculties  of  the  soul." 

During  the  four  years  that  followed  a  lively  discus- 
sion was  kept  up  in  the  church  organ,  and  when  the 
conference  met  in  1857  preparations  had  been  made 
for  a  sharp  contest.  Sober  thoughts  prevailed,  and  a 
substitute  was  adopted,  which  put  at  rest  for  a  long 
time  the  question  which  at  one  time  seemed  difficult  of 
adjustment.  It  now  reads,  "  Do  you  believe  that  man, 
abstract  of  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  fallen 
from  original  righteousness,  and  is  not  only  destitute 
of  holiness,  but  is  inclined  to  evil  and  only  evil,  and 
that  \3ontinually ;  and  that  except  a  man  be  born  again 
he  can  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God?" 

He  was  especially  anxious  that  on  three  points  his 
record  should  be  made  clear  to  his  brethren.  One  of 
these  was  his  loyalty  to  the  church  and  the  nation  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War.  Another,  his  position  on  the  secrecy 
question.  At  times  he  was  thought  by  some  not  to  be 
sufficiently  pronounced  on  this  peculiarity  of  the 
church,  but  he  insisted  that  his  record  would  show 
that  he  had  more  faithfully  administered  the  disci- 
pline than  had  others  who  probably  had  said  more 
than  he.  The  third  point  was  his  relation  to  the  doc- 
trine of  human  depravity. 


328  JOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBRENNEK, 

One  of  the  changes  which  he  especially  wanted  to 
see  brought  about  was  the  introduction  of  lay  repre- 
sentation in  all  the  councils  of  the  church.  In  the 
Telescope  for  March  2,  1881,  the  subject  is  ably  dis- 
cussed by  him.  He  aimed  to  show  both  from  Scriptures 
and  ecclesiastical  history  that  the  laity  originally  were 
a  part  of  the  governing  body.  When  the  church  lost 
its  original  purit}'  and  simplicity  they  were  thrust  out, 
and  priestcraft  became  the  order  of  the  day.  In  his 
judgment  the  highest  good  of  the  church  will  not 
come  to  pass  until  we  return  to  the  ancient  order  of 
government  in  church  affairs. 

"  When  shall  we  see  the  members  of  our  own  church 
awakenmg  to  a  sense  of  their  responsibility  and  their 
stewardship  to  God  ?  When  shall  we  see  our  members 
responding  more  liberally  and  cheerfully  to  the  calls  of 
the  church  to  sustain  our  institutions  of  learning,  our 
missionary  enterprises,  and  other  benevolent  enter- 
prises of  the  church  ?  I  answer,  when  we  open  the 
doors  of  our  ecclesiastical  assemblies  and  cordially  in- 
vite the  laity  to  come  in  and  assist  in  devising  means 
and  measures  to  promote  the  peace,  unity  and  pros- 
perity of  the  church." 

"  What  do  the  laity  lack  to  justify  their  exclusion 
from  our  councils?  Is  it  a  want  of  piety,  intelligence, 
or  a  want  of  loyalty  to  the  church  ?  Emphatically,  no. 
As  to  piety,  they  will  compare  favorably  with  the  min- 
isters. They,  as  well  as  the  ministers,  have  been  born  of 
the  Spirit,  and  have  the  promise  of  the  same  Spirit  to 
guide  them  into  all  truth  and  righteousness.  As  re- 
gards intelligence,  the  laity  are  the  peers  of  the  majority 
of  those  who  represent  the  church  in  our  ecclesiastical 
assemblies.     As  regards  enduring  attachment  for  the 


FOURTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHEEN  IN  CHEIST.    329 

church,  have  not  the  laity  given  as  strong  evidence  as 
the  ministry  ?  Why,  then,  exclude  them  ?  Nearly  all 
the  Protestant  churches,  in  some  way  or  other,  have 
lay  representation.  Why,  then,  should  we  exclude 
them  as  though  we  doubted  their  piety,  intelligence 
or  loyalty.  A  closer  connection  between  the  ministry 
and  laity  will  add  to  our  strength  and  give  new  im- 
petus to  all  the  enterprises  of  the  church." 

If  he  had  lived  to  participate  in  the  councils  of  the 
coming  general  conferences,  he  would  most  likely  have 
witnessed  the  triumph  of  his  idea  of  church  govern- 
ment, and  would  have  found  the  way  opened  to  admit 
laymen  to  the  highest  law-making  body  of  the  church. 

Glossbrenner  was  not  a  scholarly  man,  in  the  usual 
acceptation  of  that  term,  but  he  was  a  faithful  student 
of  nien  and  books.  He  had  a  retentive  memory,  a  pen- 
etrating mind,  industrious  habits,  and  with  these  he 
acquired  a  large  amount  of  information.  While  not  so 
aggressive  as  some  men,  for  his  nature  was  dijEferent,  he 
was  a  friend  to  the  educational  interests  of  the  church. 
We  wonder  at  this  day  that  it  took  so  long  to  la}^  the 
foundation  of  a  "  school  of  the  prophets,"  and  when  it 
was  done  there  was  no  very  enthusiastic  support  of  it. 
There  was  not  so  much  any  organized  opposition,  as 
there  was  a  general  indifference  throughout  the  church. 
When  it  was  agreed  to  establish  the  seminary.  Bishop 
Glossbrenner  encouraged  the  presentation  of  the  mat- 
ter at  his  conferences,  and  gave  it  all  the  support  he 
could  in  order  to  secure  funds  for  its  support  during  the 
first  two  years  of  its  existence.  He  had  occasion  at 
one  time  to  make  these  utterances :  "  !N"ot  less  than 
three-fourths  of  all  our  children  who  have  been  edu- 
cated in  colleges  not  under  our  own  direction  have 


330  JOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBRENNEE, 

been  lost  to  us.  Many  of  them  have  gone  to  other  de- 
nominations, others  to  the  world.  But  for  her  own 
grievous  neglect  to  provide  for  the  nurture  of  the  sons 
whom  God  gave  her,  many  of  those  had  now  been 
standard-bearers  in  her  battles,  and  shining  lights  in 
her  firmament.  To  this  church  the  loss  of  so  many 
cultivated  minds  and  pious  hearts  is  irreparable.  Others 
have  need  of  them ;  but  for  us  who  have  need  of  a  hun- 
dred educated  men  for  every  one  in  the  church,  such  a 
policy  as  we  formerly  pursued,  and  which  is  by  no 
means  fully  corrected,  is  fatuitous  and  suicidal.  "We 
can  not  spare  our  sons  to  others.  "We  can  not  innocently 
neglect  to  train  them  for  ourselves."  How  much  of 
his  zeal  for  the  new  seminary  was  due  to  such  incen- 
tives as  these  we  do  not  know,  but  we  do  know  that  he 
was  a  faithful  friend  to  the  new  enterprise  as  long  as 
he  lived. 

"When  the  new  college  building,  which  had  been 
erected  at  Wester vilie  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  one 
which  had  gone  down  in  a  night,  was  ready  for  use, 
Glossbrenner  was  asked  to  make  the  dedicatory  ad- 
dress. In  the  main  this  was  a  plea  for  the  study  of 
the  Bible  in  our  own  institutions  of  learning.  In  the 
little  resume  which  he  gave  of  an  experience  in  this 
work  he  says  :  "  "When  I  first  became  a  minister  in 
the  church,  I  did  not  know  half  a  dozen  United  Breth- 
ren graduates.  There  were  several  large  conferences 
which  did  not  contain  a  single  minister  or  layman  who 
enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a  collegiate  education.  At 
the  present  time,  however,  we  can  point  with  pride 
and  gratitude  to  scores  of  graduates,  the  majorit}'^  of 
them  earnestly  engaged  in  promoting  the  best  interests 
of  the  denomination  and  of  religion,  as  ministers,  as 


i-OUKTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    331 

teachers,  as  editors,  and  in  the  various  departments  of 
professional  and  public  life.  Such  facts  do  indeed 
make  an  important  change  for  the  better,  and  they 
constitute,  with  all  earnest  and  large-minded  United 
Brethren,  a  conclusive  argument  in  favor  of  strength- 
ening and  perpetuating  our  institutions  of  learning, 
which  have  thus  commended  themselves  to  the  confi- 
dence and  affections  of  the  church." 

In  the  same  address  he  gave  his  ideal  of  a  Christian 
minister  to  some  who  were  preparing  to  enter  into  this 
work,  an  ideal  well  illustrated  in  his  own  devoted  life  : 
"  There  are  those  before  me  who  have  recently  taken 
upon  themselves  the  responsibilities  of  the  Christian 
ministry,  and  others  who  are  preparing  themselves  for 
this  sacred  office.  Permit  me  to  say  to  you  that  the 
church  is  not  over  solicitous  about  the  production  of 
great  or  learned  or  highly  finished  or  eloquent  ser- 
mons, but  it  does  imperatively  demand  that  every 
preacher  of  the  Gospel  shall  put  forth  his  utmost  ener- 
gies, both  for  preparation  and  performance  ;  that  he 
keep  his  soul  all  alive  to  the  sacredness  and  fearful 
responsibilities  of  his  calling.  So  far  as  results  are  con- 
cerned, the  measure  of  capacity  or  learning  is  of  infi- 
nitely less  importance  than  the  spirit  in  which  the  work 
is  done.  God  does  unquestionably  employ  in  His 
vineyard  a  great  variety  of  talents  and  attainments, 
and  He  honors  every  man  according  to  the  fidelity  and 
spirit  of  consecration  with  which  he  fulfills  his  mis- 
sion ;  but  there  is  no  place  for  the  idle  ;  none  for  those 
Avho  are  only  half  awake ;  none  for  those  who  are  not. 
prepared  to  make  full  proof  of  their  ministry;  w^ho  are 
not  of  a  fervent  spirit,  ready  to  endure  hardness,  or 
bonds,  or  death  for  Christ's  sake." 


332  JOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBEENNEK, 

In  an  address  to  the  students  of  Lebanon  Yalley 
College,  in  1884,  on  "  Sober  Mindedness,"  he  spoke  as 
follows  —  we  give  it  as  a  specimen  of  his  plain,  simple 
language,  and  the  earnestness  with  which  he  always 
addressed  men : 

"  I  exhort,  I  beg  young  men  to  be  sober-minded. 
This  trifling  with  God  and  the  soul  does  positively 
border  on  stark  madness.  To  make  the  infinite  and 
manifold  proofs  and  felt  convictions  of  religion  to  be 
so  many  reasons  for  neglecting  it,  is  doing  barbarian 
violence  to  all  that  is  rational  and  right  in  our  nature. 
I  ask,  do  any  of  you  mean  to  go  through  life  and  so 
take  hell  for  your  portion  ?  I  suppose  not.  You  in- 
tend no  such  folly,  no  such  crime  against  God  and 
your  souls.  Observe,  then,  your  true  position  and  atti- 
tude, for  I  pronounce  them  unworthy  of  a  rational  be- 
ing. You  are  confessedly  convinced  of  the  reality  and 
of  the  importance  of  experimental  religion,  and  yet 
you  act  as  if  you  were  convinced  of  exactly  the  oppo- 
site proposition.  Your  conscience  feels  the  moral  obli- 
gation of  piety  toward  God,  and  you  will  not  obey. 
This,  then,  is  your  attitude.  You  live  in  habitual  con- 
flict with  your  understanding  and  your  conscience,  with 
your  common  sense  and  your  moral  sense.  I  am  un- 
able to  conceive  of  any  proposition  more  justly  start- 
ling to  a  thinking,  well  ordered  mind  than  this." 

He  was  what  we  might  with  special  fitness  term  a 
Gospel  preacher.  His  sermons  were  sound,  systematic, 
and  aimed  at  the  conscience  and  heart  of  the  hearer. 
He  dealt  in  no  rhetorical  flourishes  nor  metaphj^sical 
disquisitions  to  please  the  fancy.  He  believed  in  the 
power  of  the  Gospel,  and  that  alone,  to  change  the 
human  heart.     He  selected  his  text,  stated  his  points 


FOURTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.    333 

of  doctrine,  and  then  sustained  them  by  appropriate 
quotations  of  Scripture.  He  was  ready,  apt  and  accur- 
ate in  their  use,  neither  adding  thereto,  nor  taking  a 
word  from  tliem.  He  never  trifled  with  the  word  of 
God.  His  thoughts  were  uttered  in  plain,  simple  style 
and  chaste  language.  He  was  so  intensely  in  earnest, 
that  when  freely  under  way  his  whole  nature  seemed 
aroused.  Those  who  heard  him  at  his  best,  went  away 
with  the  truth  riveted  upon  their  minds,  and  with  a  very 
vivid  impression  of  the  genuine  earnestness  of  the  man. 
This  intensity  of  his  nature  at  times  made  his  addresses 
eloquent  to  the  hearer,  although  the  speaker  may  have 
been  unconscious  of  his  strength.  He  preached  that 
which  he  fully  believed.  He  needed  no  new  gospel,  for 
th6  old  was  sufficient  for  all  his  wants.  He  sought  to 
win  men  more  by  the  proclamation  of  the  love  side  of 
the  Gospel,  than  by  awakening  them  with  its  terrors. 
As  he  came  near  the  end  of  his  life,  he  said  he  would 
like  to  preach  one  more  sermon,  and  his  text  would  be, 
"It  is  I,  be  not  afraid."  Once  during  the  war  he 
preached  a  sermon  somewhere  in  the  State  of  Virginia. 
An  intelligent  Christian  soldier  was  present,  who  said 
he  had  often  thought  that  he  would  like  to  have  heard 
St.  Paul  preach,  but  was  now  satisfied,  for  he  had 
heard  a  man  preach,  who  came  up  to  his  ideal  of  Paul." 
Those  who  knew  Bishop  Glossbrenner  best  would 
unite  in  saying  that  he  was  "  a  good  man,  full  of  faith 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  highest  beauty  of  his 
character,  perhaps,  was  its  symmetry.  His  habits  were 
regular  and  his  temper  even.  He  was  calm,  dignified, 
kind,  yet  persistent  in  what  he  believed  to  be  right. 
He  was  not  easily  irritated,  but  in  the  midst  of  trials 
and  even  of  wrongs  done  him,  he  could  possess  his  soul 


334  JOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBEENNER, 

in  patience.  In  the  midst  of  perplexities  he  u^as  the 
same  cahn,  self-possessed  man.  He  neither  thought  nor 
said  unkind  things  of  his  brethren. 

He  had  his  own  convictions,  to  which  he  firmly  ad- 
hered, and  although  differing  at  times  from  his  breth- 
ren, as  to  church  polity,  he  could  do  so,  and  did  do  so, 
without  disparaging  them.  Even  when  efforts  were 
made  to  displace  him,  he  believed  the  Lord  ruled  and 
all  would  be  well. 

He  was  in  very  many  respects  a  model  bishop,  both 
as  to  his  character  and  in  authority.  He  was  a  fine 
preacher  ;  he  was  a  churchly  man,  on  the  lookout  for 
the  advancement  in  all  proper  ways  of  his  ow^n  de- 
nomination, yet  not  a  bigot.  He  had  a  warm  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  his  itinerant  brethren.  Their  troubles 
were  his  troubles,  and  their  success  his  glory.  He 
would  often  say  in  his  last  hours  :  "  In  the  church  let 
me  live  —  in  the  church  let  me  labor,  in  the  church  let 
me  die,  and  by  the  church  let  me  be  buried." 

He  was  a  prudent,  careful,  dignified  presiding  officer. 
He  was  skillful  in  preventing  trouble,  as  well  as  in 
meeting  it  properly  when  it  came.  He  was  a  wise  coun- 
selor, understood  our  church  economy  better  than 
many  others,  for  he  w^as  a  part  of  it,  and  helped  to 
make  it,  and  therefore  seldom  made  any  mistakes  in 
the  administration  of  law.  "When  necessary  he  could 
reprove  and  rebuke,  with  all  longsuffering  and  gentle- 
ness. Modest,  retiring,  unassuming,  and  indisposed  to 
court  attention  or  commendation  from  men,  he  ap- 
preciated kindness,  and  in  turn  loved  and  trusted  men. 

When  he  was  buried,  Bishop  Weaver  spoke  of  him 
and  his  w^ork  in  the  following  touching  language : 
"Bishop  Glossbrenner  entered  the  ministry  in  the  United 


FOUKTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    335 

Brethren  Church,  when  the  membership  did  not  exceed 
25,000.  He  traveled  for  the  most  part  on  horseback. 
At  that  day  there  were  no  railroads,  and  ministers  gen- 
erally traveled  as  he  did.  Even  when  he  was  elected 
to  the  office  of  bishop,  forty-two  years  ago,  he  had  to 
travel  mostly  by  private  conveyance.  Sometimes  it 
would  require  from  two  to  three  weeks  to  go  from  one 
conference  to  another,  but  no  matter  how  far  it  was,  nor 
how  difficult  the  journey,  he  would  perform  it  without 
murmuring  or  complaining,  and  after  he  was  sixty 
years  of  age,  when  his  turn  came  to  visit  the  confer- 
ences on  the  Pacific  coast,  although  it  involved  a  ride 
of  1,200  miles  by  stage  over  mountains  that  would 
make  the  nerves  of  younger  men  tingle,  he  went  with- 
out murmuring  or  complaining.  No  difficulty  seemed 
too  great  for  him  to  face  when  duty  called  him  to  go. 
Many  a  long,  dreary  night,  he  rode  over  rugged  mount- 
ains on  the  Pacific  slope,  w^hile  young  men  slept  quietly 
at  their  homes. 

"  When  he  entered  the  ministry  in  this  church,  we 
had  no  home,  frontier  or  foreign  missionary  society, 
no  institutions  of  learning,  no  Sabbath-school  associa- 
tion, no  Sabbath-school  literature,  no  well  organized 
itinerancy,  no  books  written  by  men  of  our  own  church 
and  no  constitution.  He  grew  up  w^th  the  growth  of  the 
church,  and  was  always  to  be  found  in  the  front  rank  of 
every  advance  made  by  the  church.  Older  and  indeed 
younger  men  than  himself  would  sometimes  hesitate 
when  these  advance  movements  were  proposed,  but 
Bishop  Glossbrenner  was  always  ready  for  everything 
that  would  add  potency  to  the  church  that  he  loved  so 
well.  If  he  erred  along  any  of  these  fines,  it  was  because 
he  loved  the  church  more  than  his  reputation.  The  one 
great  question  with  him  seemed  to  be, "  Is  it  right?" 


336  JOHN  JACOB  GLOSSBKENNEE, 

When  the  news  of  his  death  reached  Harrisburg, 
there  was  great  sorrow,  as  indeed  there  was  all  over 
the  church.  A  correspondent  of  the  Telescojye  writes 
as  follows,  on  receipt  of  the  sad  news :  "  I  desire  to  say 
for  Bishop  Glossbrenner  this  one  thing,  and  I  say  it  on 
my  own  personal  responsibility,  he  is  the  most  uni- 
formly straightforward  man  I  have  ever  seen.  He  was 
one  of  the  best  bequests  God  ever  made  to  any  people. 
The  gift  of  such  a  man  to  any  church,  the  grand  and 
beautiful  life  he  led,  the  long  years  he  was  spared  to 
serve,  and  the  great  good  he  accomplished  is  great 
cause  for  the  most  devout  thanksgiving,  I  know  I 
voice  the  sentiment  of  our  people  in  Pennsylvania  in 
what  I  have  said,"  , 

Mrs.  Glossbrenner  died  October  14, 1884,  aged  sixty- 
seven  years  ten  months  and  sixteen  days.  She  had 
been  in  delicate  health  for  some  years.  At  this  time 
the  bishop  himself  was  quite  feeble,  and  not  able  to 
attend  some  of  his  conferences.  At  the  Scioto  Confer- 
ence a  resolution  was  adopted,  expressing  the  sympathy 
of  the  conference,  and  while  the  paper  was  before  it 
for  action.  Dr.  L.  Davis,  of  Dayton,  paid  a  beautiful 
tribute  to  Bishop  Glossbrenner  in  the  following  lan- 
guage :  "  I  have  been  in  the  ministry  and  Scioto 
Conference  fifty-six  years,  but  the  bishop  is  a  little 
older  in  years,  and  also  Is  my  senior  in  the  ministry. 
This  near  relation  in  the  number  of  years  gives  me 
tender  feelings.  When  the  name  of  Bishop  Glossbren- 
ner is  mentioned  here,  as  it  is  now,  he  seems  to  be  pass- 
ing away  from  us,  and  this  reminds  me  of  my  early 
departure.  I  have  always  regarded  Bishop  Glossbren- 
ner as  not  only  a  man  of  great  power  as  a  preacher  of 
Christ,  but  also  as  a  model  bishop," 

Bishop  Glossbrenner  died  on  the  morning  of  Jan- 


FOURTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    66  i 

uary  7,  1887,  aged  seventy -three  years  five  months 
and  thirteen  days.  His  remains  lay  for  some  days  in 
the  east  room  of  his  own  dwelling,  and  was  from  this 
place  taken  to  the  church,  where,  for  so  long  a  time  he 
had  worshiped.  The  bishop  asked  to  be  buried  in 
the  cemetery  beside  his  wife.  He  forbade  any  extrav- 
agance in  connection  with  his  funeral,  and  requested 
that  his  body  be  carried  to  the  grave  by  his  brethren 
in  the  ministry,  after  the  example  of  Stephen.  His 
requests  were  complied  with.  A  tender  funeral  dis- 
course was  preached  by  Bishop  Weaver,  from  Rev. 
XXI :  25.  "  For  there  shall  be  no  night  there."  He 
then  said,  "  it  is  now  left  to  us  to  bear  to  the  tomb  the 
body  of  our  brother,  tenderly  and  solemnly,  and  lay  it 
away  to  rest  in  hope  of  the  resur^'^ction.  We  will  do 
this  reverently." 

"  The  place  where  he  rests  is  somewhat  of  a  lonely 
spot,  and  yet  it  is  a  beautiful  elevation  by  a  thorough- 
fare. It  was  his  wish  to  rest  here.  In  this  rural 
scenery  he  had  found  delight  and  rest  in  these  many 
years.  Amid  the  romantic  farms  and  rustic  beauty  of 
these  hills  and  valleys  he  had  dwelt  in  the  days  of 
young  manhood  with  the  companion  of  his  love  and 
sorrow.  Every  hill  and  valley  and  streamlet  and 
dwelling  and  shadowy  forest  seemed  sacred  to  him. 
Here,  in  his  last  years,  he  planned  and  erected  the  beau- 
tiful home  in  which  his  companion  and  he  died.  Here, 
at  Churchville,  though  far  from  the  center  of  the 
church  in  which  he  toiled,  his  modest  and  retiring 
spirit  dictated  a  resting  place  for  his  ashes.  Here, 
while  the  church  weeps  his  loss,  sorrowing  most  that 
they  shall  see  his  face  no  more,  he  rests  in  that  long, 
long,  mysterious  sleep.  His  record  is  on  high  ;  his 
memory  is  with  the  church." 


REV.  WILLIAM  HANBY, 
FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


KEY.  WILLIAM  HANBY  was  born  in  Washing- 
ton county,  Pa.,  April  8,  1808.  Being  of  lowly 
parentage,  his  entrance  into  life  was  most  humble,  but 
his  exit  from  it  most  triumphant  and  glorious.  His 
early  childhood,  like  that  of  many  a  more  distinguished 
man,  was  pinched  by  poverty  and  possessed  few  advan- 
tages. At  an  early  age  he  found  a  good  home  in  a 
Quaker  family,  where  he  was  taught  to  be  honest  and 
industrious. 

His  first  adventure  may  be  related  here.  One  Sab- 
bath, when  all  of  the  family  save  himself  had  left  home, 
he  chanced  to  look  aloft,  and  saw  a  large  bird  sailing 
grandly  in  the  sky  above  him.  He  flew  to  the  house 
to  get  the  gun,  carried  it  out,  rested  it  on  a  stump, 
shut  his  eyes  and  blazed  away.  A  few  minutes  after  he 
lay  on  his  back  and  saw  the  same  large  bird  calmly 
sailing  on.  In  after  life  he  saw  many  a  man  "  hoist  by 
his  own  petard." 

In  the  bosom  of  this  good  family,  whose  memory 
he  always  cherished  with  kindest  feeling,  the  years 
passed  pleasantly  away.  Farming  was  not,  however, 
suited  to  his  taste.  When  he  was  sixteen  years  old  he 
determined  to  learn  a  trade,  and  decided  on  that  of  a 
saddler.  As  was  the  custom  in  those  days,  he  was 
bound  by  a  legal  contract  to  a  mechanic  by  the  name 
of  Good.  Could  he  have  foreseen  the  hardships  of  the 
next  few  years,  no  doubt  he  would  have  remained  on 

338 


^^:;^^-^ 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BBETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.      339 

the  farm.  Some  would  say  he  made  a  mistake,  but 
God  had  a  work  for  this  lowly  boy  to  do,  and  the  way 
to  it  lay  through  the  burning,  fiery  furnace.  He  soon 
found  he  had  entered  into  a  bondage  as  terrible  as 
that  endured  by  the  slave  in  the  South.  He  was 
shamefully  and  brutally  treated,  and  he  looked  forward 
with  horror  to  the  five  weary  years  of  ser\dtude.  This 
cruel  master  tried  to  compel  him  to  lie  and  to  steal, 
but  when  informed  that  he  must  injure  his  neighbor 
by  telling  a  lie  or  submit  to  the  lash,  he  refused  to  be 
guilty  of  falsehood.  At  one  time  he  nearly  lost  his 
life  under  his  chastisement,  and  he  saw  there  was  no 
hope  for  a  poor,  friendless  boy  in  the  hands  of  such  a 
demon.  After  three  years  spent  in  this  kind  of  servi- 
tude he  found  life  intolerable,  and  determined  if  pos- 
sible to  gain  his  freedom.  On  the  24th  of  March, 
1828,  he  made  his  escape  by  twisting  his  bed-clothes 
into  a  rope  and  letting  himself  down  in  the  dead  of 
night  from  the  second-story  window.  He  met  his  old 
mother  in  the  edge  of  town,  bade  her  a  sorrowful 
"  good  bye,  "  and  with  bursting  heart  started  out  on 
that  long  perilous  journey,  penniless  and  alone,  with 
his  face  toward  Ohio.  "  No  words  can  describe,'' 
he  afterward  wrote,  "the  anguish  of  my  heart  that 
night  and  for  days  afterward — leaving  a  poor,  depend- 
ent mother  behind,  very  poorly  clad  myself,  my  spirit 
crushed  by  the  treatment  I  had  received,  and  every 
moment  dreading  to  hear  the  footsteps  of  my  dreaded 
master,  who  had  repeatedly  assured  me  he  would  '  fol- 
low me  to  hell.'  "  In  his  utter  despair  he  cried  to  God 
to  direct  his  steps,  promising  Him  if  he  ever  reached 
freedom  and  safety  he  would  give  his  heart  and  life  to 
His  service.  At  first  he  traveled  only  by  night,  and  re- 
mained hid  during  the  daytime.  When  almost  starving. 


340  WILLIAM  HANBY, 

he  appealed  to  a  good  woman  in  a  farm  house,  who 
gave  him  food  and  shelter,  and  kept  him  hid  away  un- 
til his  travel-worn  feet  were  somewhat  healed  and  his 
tired  body  rested.  He  started  on  from  this  refuge  with 
hope  in  his  heart  and  vigor  in  his  frame.  The  remem- 
brance of  this  kind  friend  who  helped  him  in  the  hour 
of  his  need  brought  tears  to  his  eyes  to  the  last  of  his 
days.  He  now  traveled  in  day  time,  asking  directions 
from  every  person  he  met,  to  a  place  as  distant  as  possi- 
ble from  the  place  he  was  seeking.  On  the  1st  of  April, 
1828,  he  reached  Zanesville,  Ohio,  and  though  weary 
and  sick  from  his  long  journey,  went  to  work  at  his 
trade. 

In  a  short  time  he  left  Zanesville,  and  found  a 
blessed  home  in  the  family  of  Samuel  Miller,  near  Som- 
erset, Ohio.  Here  he  followed  his  chosen  occupation, 
and  the  influence  of  this  intelligent,  pious  family  had 
much  to  do  in  bringing  hira  to  God,  and  shaping  his 
life  for  the  work  before  him.  In  1830,  under  the 
labors  of  Eev,  l^athaniel  Havens,  he  was  converted 
to  God.  Kow  arose  a 'question  of  honor.  He  knew 
that  by  the  laws  of  his  country  he  was  a  free  man, 
having  reached  his  majority,  but,  by  the  terms  of  his 
indenture,  his  old  employer  had  a  claim  on  him  for  serv- 
ice, and  this  claim  should  be  met.  The  indenture 
itself  was  not  in  existence,  having  been  burned  by  a 
friendly  dairy  maid  at  the  time  of  his  escaj^e,  but  his 
keen  sense  of  honor  forbade  his  taking  advantage  of 
that  fact.  He  gathered  together  all  his  savings,  went 
back  to  his  native  State,  settled  all  claims  against  him, 
and  returned  a  happy  man,  but  with  an  almost  empty 
purse. 

Soon  after  this  he  became  impressed  with  the  con- 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     341 

viction  that  he  must  go  forth  and  preach  the  Gospel. 
Few  men  have  experienced  the  fierce  struggles  and 
deep  darkness  through  which  his  pathway  led.  His 
entire  ignorance  of  theology,  except  the  power  of  God 
to  save,  and,  indeed,  with  everything  connected  with 
the  profession,  appalled  him.  He  had  received  but  a 
few  months  of  schooling  in  all  his  life,  and  it  was  now 
too  late  to  secure  an  education.  He  determined  to 
work  hard  at  his  trade,  and  promised  God  to  find  a 
younger  man  whom  he  would  educate,  and  who  would 
do  the  work  which  he  felt  himself  unable  to  do.  This 
plan  brought  no  relief  to  his  troubled  heart.  After  a 
long  and  fearful  struggle  he  gave  up,  and  on  his  knees, 
alone  in  a  grove,  made  the  consecration  of  himself  to 
the  Lord,  and  received  such  an  evidence  of  his  call  to 
the  ministry  that  during  all  the  years  of  toil  and  j^ri- 
vation  which  followed,  he  never  for  one  moment 
doubted  it. 

On  the  17th  day  of  October,  1830,  he  was  married 
to  Ann  Miller,  daughter  of  his  honored  partner  and 
benefactor.  The  wife  proved  a  helpmeet  indeed,  and, 
through  all  the  years  of  privation  and  toil  which  fell  to 
his  lot,  she  was  devoted,  uncomplaining  and  faithful. 
Her  devout  and  beautiful  life  shed  an  influence  for  good 
upon  all  with  whom  she  came  in  contact.  Her  children 
cherish  her  memory  as  that  of  a  true  angel  of  light. 

In  April,  1831,  Mr.  Hanby  was  licensed  to  preach 
in  the  United  Brethren  Church.  In  the  year  1833  he 
gave  his  name  to  the  Scioto  Annual  Conference  to  travel 
and  was  placed  on  what  was  then  called  Wolf  creek 
circuit.  He  had  170  miles  to  travel  and  twenty-eight 
appointments  to  fill  in  making  one  round.  He  made 
the  round  once  in  four  weeks.     The  labor  was  very 


342  WILLIAM  HANBT, 

hard,  and  privations  and  trials  very  severe.  His  salary 
for  the  entire  year,  presents  included,  amounted  to  $35. 
He  counted  his  hire  in  human  souls,  the  net  increase  for 
the  year  being  100. 

In  1834  he  was  elected  presiding  elder,  although  at 
this  time  he  was  only  twenty -six  years  of  age.  His 
district  comprised  the  whole  of  Scioto  Conference  as  it 
was  then.  During  the  year  he  traveled  over  4,000 
miles  on  horseback.  In  1836  the  conference  was 
divided  into  two  districts,  and  presided  over  by  Coons 
and  Hanby.  These  two  were  elected  to  the  General  Con- 
ference, which  was  held  in  Germantown,  Ohio,  in  May, 
1836.  Hanby  was  at  this  time  appointed  general  agent 
and  treasurer  of  the  Telescope  office,  at  Circleville, 
Ohio.  He  gave  the  very  best  of  his  powers  of  mind 
and  body  to  the  work  which  followed,  and  no  interest 
of  the  church  was  dearer  to  his  heart,  even  to  the  day 
of  his  death.  In  1839  he  was  appointed  editor  of  the 
Telescope,  in  place  of  William  Khinehart,  resigned. 
The  establishment  was  heavily  in  debt,  and  in  order  to 
economize,  he  was  instructed  to  act  as  agent,  publisher 
and  editor. 

It  was  thought  that  unless  an  almost  superhuman 
effort  was  made,  the  house  Avould  go  to  the  wall.  The 
work  was  very  hard.  In  addition  to  the  business  man- 
agement the  editor  must  study  in  order  to  make  a 
paper  which  was  to  be  read  by  many  who  had  received 
a  hundred  times  the  advantages  he  had  known.  His 
early  lack  of  education  made  him  a  life-long  student. 
At  the  conference  of  1841  he  was  elected  for  the  term 
of  four  years.  In  a  sketch  of  his  life,  written  by  him- 
self, he  said :  •'  No  department  of  the  work  of  the 
church  of  my  choice  has  drawn  so  heavily  upon  my 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHEIST.      343 

best  energies  as  the  Telescope.  The  toil  and  anguish 
endured  to  save  a  sinking  vessel  is  more  than  I  can 
describe."  During  these  dark  days  he  walked  by  faith 
and  not  by  sight.  The  church  paper  was  an  untried 
enterprise  among  a  people  who  had  small  conception 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  work  they  were  undertaking. 
They  had  little  idea  of  the  wants  of  such  an  establish- 
ment, and  as  little  idea  of  their  own  great  need  of  it. 
Many  were  illiterate  and  prejudiced  against  learning 
or  anything  that  savored  of  a  finished  education. 
Taking  a  paper  was  too  near  an  approach  to  "  book 
learning,"  which  they  had  learned  to  despise.  More 
than  one  minister  boasted  that  *'  he  had  never  rubbed 
his  back  against  college  walls." 

It  would  have  been  a  difficult  task  to  have  carried 
on  a  paper,  under  such  discouraging  circumstances,  if 
it  had  been  free  from  debt,  but,  burdened  as  it  was, 
the  task  was  much  more  difficult.  Hanby  had  clear 
vision  and  fine  business  qualifications,  and  he  bent  his 
energies  to  remove  every  obstacle.  He  succeeded  in 
having  the  paper  put  on  a  cash  basis  as  soon  as  possible, 
and  instituted  measures  to  increase  the  circulation. 
Among  them  were  premiums  offered  for  the  largest  list 
of  subscribers.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  men  who 
afterward  attained  to  high  positions  in  the  church, 
were  men  whose  names  appear  prominently  in  the 
columns  of  the  church  organ  as  agents  for  it,  such 
as  John  Russel;  J.  J.  Glossbrenner  and  Lewis  Davis, 
Dr,  Davis  and  N.  Altman  crowded  each  other  hard  for 
the  prize,  the  "  Encyclopaedia  of  Religious  Knowledge," 
and  in  the  race,  the  doctor,  a  very  unusual  thing  for 
him,  was  beaten.  But  it  was  a  time  of  hard  struggle 
for  the  man  on  whom  so  many  duties  devolved,  and 


344  WILLIAM  HANBY, 

was  accompanied  Avitli  no  little  privation,  for  with  all 
the  hard  labor,  the  salary  was  meager,  and  many  de- 
vices must  be  sought  to  enable  the  family  exchequer  to 
meet  the  demands  made  upon  it. 

These  days  were  so  dark,  and  the  struggle  so  bitter 
that  it  overshadowed  the  home  like  a  personal  calam- 
ity, so  that  those  who  remain  of  that  family  circle  look 
back  to  that  time  of  trial  with  a  shudder.  "  The  debt, 
the  deW  was  the  ever-present  menacing,  impending 
calamity,  only  to  be  turned  aside  by  an  overruling 
Providence, whose  lielping  hand  was  constantly  besought 
by  day  and  by  night. 

His  little  five-year-old  daughter  had  accumulated, 
by  much  self-denial,  the  wonderful  sum  of  five  old-fash- 
ioned big  copper  cents.  The  anxiety  for  the  payment  of 
the  debt  ]3ressed  so  heavily  on  her  little  heart,  that  she 
felt  her  treasure  must  not  be  hoarded  in  a  time  of  such 
peril.  It  was  a  hard  struggle  that  went  on  in  her 
heart,  a  foretaste  of  the  day  when  other  precious  treas- 
ures must  be  laid  on  the  altar,  but  it  aided  in  victory 
on  the  right  side.  One  day,  when  her  father  was  sit- 
ting with  knitted  brows,  evidently  in  more  than  usual 
danger  from  that  great  evil,  the  debt,  she  slipped 
softly  to  his  side,  and  laid  all  her  treasures  on  the  table 
before  him,  never  doubting  but  it  would  prove  ample 
for  the  liquidation  of  the  debt,  and  with  the  faint  hope 
that  maybe  one  precious  penny  might  be  left.  ''What 
is  it  for  ? "  he  asked,  and  the  keen  black  eyes  were  misty 
with  tears  when  she  whispered,  "to  pay  the  debt." 
Would  God  he  could  have  looked  forward  in  those 
days  of  darkness  and  have  seen,  as  doubtless  he  now 
sees,  the  Telescope  going  all  over  the  church,  the  book 
concern  occupying  a  stately  building,  all  its  own,  not 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.      345 

only  free  from  debt,  but  making  money  for  the  church, 
and  spreading  light  and  truth  throughout  all  her  bor- 
ders. No  doubt  he  would  even  more  earnestly  have 
counted  it  "all  joy"  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  such  a 
service. 

It  will  be  a  matter  of  interest  to  recall  the  positions 
taken  by  him  in  the  columns  of  the  paper  at  this  early 
day,  on  the  great  questions  that  stirred  the  people  — 
some  of  them  still  great  questions.  His  anti-slavery 
position  was  not  one  of  words  and  convictions  alone, 
but  of  deeds  daring  and  effective.  While  in  the  paper 
he  was  brave  to  speak  for  liberty  and  to  declare,  fear- 
lessly, the  universal  brotherhood  of  man.  He  did  not 
shrink  from  danger  when  called  upon  to  prove  his  sym- 
pathy in  deeds  as  well  as  in  words.  At  this  time  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  Ohio  imposed  a  heavy  fine  and 
imprisonment  for  the  crime  of  assisting  a  poor  panting 
fugitive  to  escape  from  the  clutches  of  the  slave  driver. 
But,  with  a  knowledge  of  all  its  consequences,  he  chose 
to  obey  the  voice  of  God  rather  than  the  laws  of  man. 
There  were,  at  that  time,  but  few  in  Circleviile  whose 
sympathies  were  actively  enlisted  in  behalf  of  the  slave, 
and  the  name  "  abolitionist"  was  a  term  of  reproach 
only  equaled  by  that  of  "prohibitionist"  in  our  own  day. 

Indeed,  there  seems  to  have  been  but  one  wdio  could 
be  trusted  to  assist  in  caring  for  the  fugitive  slave. 
This  was  Mr.  Doddridge,  a  merchant  of  the  town. 
Mr.  Hanby  and  Mr.  Doddridge,  with  perhaps  a  few- 
otiiers,  established  a  station  on  the  underground  rail- 
road, and  manned  it  themselves.  One  of  the  memories 
of  the  old  Circleviile  home  is  of  mysterious,  quiet  knock- 
ings  in  the  dead  of  night,  of  hurried  whispered  consulta- 
tions in  the  darkness,  and  of  the  quiet  disappearance  of 


346  WILLIAM  HANBT. 

the  father,  and  the  wonder  of  the  children  quickly 
hushed  at  finding  him  at  home  in  the  morning.  Once, 
at  midnight,  the  signal  was  given  and  the  door  opened 
to  admit  Mr.  Doddridge,  who  brought  word  that  he 
had  five  slaves  hidden  away,  and  that  the  pursuers 
were  on  their  track.  There  was  no  one  else  to  go. 
None  other  that  could  be  entrusted  with  an  adventure 
so  full  of  hazard,  both  to  the  would-be-pursuers  and 
to  the  fugitives.  So  Mr.  Hanby  went  out  in  the  night, 
procured  conveyances,  and  quietly  stole  away  with  his 
trembling  charge  to  the  home  of  Jonathan  Dresbach, 
whose  house  formed  another  station  on  the  railroad,  the 
more  secure  because  it  was  not  south  but  east  of  the 
Circleville  station. 

Here  they  were  hid  away,  and  the  driver,  by  a  circuit- 
ous route,  returned  to  town,  and  was  to  be  seen  at  day- 
light, in  his  own  home,  with  an  air  of  having  spent  the 
night  in  the  bosom  of  his  family.  The  pursuers,  how- 
ever, got  on  the  track,  followed  it  to  Mr.  Dresbach's, 
searched  all  the  premises,  actually  treading  over  the 
hay  under  which  they  lay  buried,  and  returned  to  town 
unsuccessful,  breathing  vengeance  on  the  "  black  aboli- 
tionists" for  having  spirited  them  away.  One  man, 
who  was  assisted  by  these  brave  men,  returned  again 
and  again,  first  for  his  mother,  then  for  his  wife,  after- 
ward for  some  of  his  children,  mailing  five  trips  back, 
and  safely  reached  Canada  each  time  with  his  precious 
■charges.  Mr.  Hanby's  vote  was  one  of  the  first  seven 
cast  in  Pickaway  county  for  the  Free-Soil  candidates, 
but  he  lived  to  see  those  votes  each  become  a  thousand, 
and  to  welcome  the  glad  day  when  liberty  was  pro- 
claimed "throughout  all  the  land  to  all  the  inhabitants 
thereof." 


FIFTEENTH  BISIIOl'  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.      34:7 

On  the  temperance  question  he  would  need  to  change 
but  very  httle  from  his  utterances  of  that  day  to  stand  in 
the  foremost  ranks  of  temperance  workers  of  to-day. 
True  tlie  principle  of  prohibition  was  not  urged  then, 
but  total  abstinence  for  all  he  earnestly  advocated, 
not  only  by  tongue  and  pen  but  by  example.  On 
JSTovember  16,  1841,  he  assisted  in  the  organization  of 
the  Washingtonian  society  at  Circleville,  of  which  Hon. 
Chauncey  N.  Olds,  of  Columbus,  was  the  presiding 
officer.  Every  member  of  his  family,  including  appren- 
tices to  the  printing  business  and  his  two  elder  children, 
aged  six  and  eight  years,  took  the  total  abstinence 
pledge,  and  by  him  and  his  family,  at  least,  it  was  con- 
scientiously kept  and  always  regarded  as  a  sacred 
obligation.  It  was  in  his  old  age,  and  during  his  last 
efforts  in  the  good  cause,  that  he  was  made  to  suffer  for 
conscience  sake,  when  his  propert^^  was  destro3"ed  dur- 
ing the  famous  whisky  war  at  Westerville.  His  vote 
was  also  cast  among  the  first  for  prohibition. 

He  was  early  and  always  a  friend  to  the  Sabbath- 
school.  During  all  his  time  of  service  as  editor,  it 
was  his  custom  to  go  out  to  places  in  the  surrounding 
countr}^  where  there  were  no  schools  or  weak  ones, 
taking  his  children  with  him  to  assist  in  the  singing 
and  would  organize  new  schools  or  strengthen  weak 
ones.  More  than  one  church  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Scioto  Conference  grew  out  of  schools  founded  or  fos- 
tered by  his  labors.  Up  to  the  last  moments  of  his 
life  he  faithfully  and  regularly  prepared  his  Sunday, 
school  lesson.  When  taken  sick  with  his  last  illness, 
he  had  a  class  in  the  school  at  Westerville  composed  of 
married  ladies,  and  man}'  hours  of  weariness,  during  his 
long  confinement,  were  made   bright  by  their  tender, 


348  WILLIAM  HANBY, 

affectionate  ministrations.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
first  Sunday-school  normal  class  organized  at  Wester- 
ville  by  President  H.  A.  Thompson,  and  did  faithful,  effi- 
cient work. 

On  the  subject  of  woman's  work  he  had  views  far  in 
advance  of  the  times,  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  equal- 
ity of  the  sexes,  and  never  more  delighted  than  when 
his  daughters  showed  themselves  the  intellectual  equals 
of  their  brothers. 

The  missionary  work  was  always  dear  to  his  heart. 
He  gave  as  freely  and  conscientiously  as  possible,  and 
when  the  work  demanded  one  of  his  own  family,  his 
cheerful  acquiescence  and  words  of  encouragement 
were  a  tower  of  strength  to  her  who  was  called. 

He  was  always  the  earnest  opponent  of  secret  socie- 
ties, and  saw  in  them  great  danger  menacing  both 
'  church  and  state  and  exerting  a  pernicious  influence 
upon  the  individual.  This  opinion  he  never  changed, 
notwithstanding  charges  have  been  made^to  the  con- 
trary, but  he  did  modify  his  views  with  reference  to 
the  manner  of  dealing  with  it.  He  honestly  believed 
the  church  should  discriminate  between  the  oath- 
bound  societies  and  the  minor  orders  banded  together 
in  so-called  charitable  associations  and  for  self- 
protection.  Had  he  lived  in  the  days  of  bombs  and 
dynamite,  he  might  have  found  little  difference  between 
them. 

During  the  year  1844  he  spent  much  time  in  secret 
prayer  and  in  searching  the  Scriptures.  In  the  wide- 
spread discussion  of  sanctified  and  higher  life,  he 
was  led  to  believe  that  there  were  heights  and  depths 
of  Christian  experience  which  he  had  never  known. 
His  efforts  were  rewarded  by  a  baptism  of  power  and 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      349 

zeal  that  he  never  felt  before,  and  during  the  long  years 
that  followed,  his  faith  never  wavered.  His  experience 
might  more  fitly  be  termed  assurance  of  faith.  A 
daughter,  who  remembered  tht^discussion  and  struggle, 
and  especially  the  fact  that  the  doctrine  was  very  un- 
popular, watched  his  life  with  care  all  the  years  through 
to  see  if  his  light  died  down  or  if  he  ever  felt  that  he 
was  mistaken,  and,  in  answer  to  her  question  during  his 
last  illness,  he  seemed  to  sum  up  the  whole  matter  in 
these,  to  her,  memorable  words:  "My  experience  is 
that  the  highest  attainment  of  grace  is  perfect  sub- 
mission to  the  will  of  God." 

In  May,  1845,  at  the  General  Conference  held  in 
Circleville,  a  special  committee  reported  concerning  the 
affairs  of  the  Telescope  office  as  follows:  "  We  find  the 
affairs  of  the  Religious  Telescope  in  prosperous  condi- 
tion, there  being  at  this  time  in  the  treasury  a  balance 
of  $3,000  in  favor  of  the  office."  The  "debt"  was 
paid  at  last. 

At  this  same  conference,  after  a  short  time  spent  in 
balloting,  J.  Russel,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner  and  William 
Hanby  were  elected  bishops  of  the  church.  In  those 
days  the  office  sought  the  man  not  the  man  the  office. 
This  brought  great  dismay  to  him,  and  came  like  a 
calamity  to  his  wife  and  children.  In  those  days  more 
was  thought  of  the  responsibilities  of  the  office  than 
of  the  honors  or  emoluments.  When  the  resultofthe 
election  had  been  learned,  the  wives  of  two  of  these 
newly  made  bishops  wept  and  prayed,  and  could  not  be 
comforted. 

Small  wonder  was  it  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Hanby. 
Serving  the  church  as  bishop  meant  long  absence  from 
home,  exposure  and  hardships  scarcely  to  be  imagined 


350  WILLIAM  HANBY, 

in  these  days  of  rapid  transit.  His  absence  from  home 
laid  upon  the  wife,  a  woman  of  delicate  health,  of  timid, 
shrinking  nature,  a  burden  almost  too  heavy  to  be 
borne.  There  was  a  fkmily  of  five  children,  his  moth- 
er and  step-father,  both  in  feeble  health,  besides  the 
charge  of  the  "  saddle  and  harness  making  "  establish- 
ment, by  which,  during  the  entire  time  of  his  service  for 
the  church,  he  eked  out  the  living  his  meager  salary 
failed  to  secure.  No  wonder  the  cross  seemed  very 
heavy  to  the  wife. 

His  work  as  bishop  was  arduous,  indeed.  He  was 
absent  from  home  three  and  sometimes  four  months  at 
a  time,  often  making  all  the  weary  journey  on  horse- 
back. Letters  were  expensive  luxuries  and  rare  vis- 
itors, and  the  use  of  the  telegraph  was  unknown,  so 
that  the  partings  were  times  of  great  distress  and  gloom. 
How  many  chances  there  were  that  the  traveler  might 
fall  a  victim  to  accident  or  sickness  and  never  return, 
and  how  the  fear  would  chill  his  heart  that  he  would 
find  the  little  circle  broken  on  his  return. 

For  some  time  previous  to  starting  on  one  of  his 
long  journeys  he  had  been  subject  to  attacks  of  vertigo, 
which  were  regarded  as  quite  serious  by  his  physicians, 
as  possibly  being  the  forerunner  of  apoplexy.  He  felt 
the  duty  must  be  done,  so  he  bade  his  loved  ones 
"  good  bye."  His  letters  miscarried,  and  weeks  passed 
without  any  word  from  him.  A  letter  from  him  Avas 
published  in  the  Telescope^  in  which  he  said  he  never 
expected  to  see  his  home  again,  but  the  kindness  of 
friends  kept  this  from  his  family.  It  was  a  time  of 
great  distress,  and  the  thought  that  he  might  be  dead 
on  some  lone  prairie  was  constantly  present  to  them. 
Finally,  one  Sabbath  morning,  the  postmaster  found  a 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST,      351 

letter  in  the  well-known  writing,  and.  knowing  as 
all  the  community  did,  the  great  anxiety  of  the  family, 
sent  the  letter  to  the  house.  The  children  were  at 
church,  but  friends  hastened  to  bring  them  home  to 
hear  the  good  news  that  the  father  was  not  only  alive, 
but  healed  of  his  sickness.  He  had  been  attacked  with 
vertigo  while  in  the  pulpit  at  Dublin,  Ind.,  and  good  old 
Dr.  Witt  had  taken  him  to  his  home  and  cured  him. 

The  first  year  of  his  term  as  bishop  he  presided  over 
the  conferences  of  Ohio  and  Indiana ;  the  second  over 
those  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Virginia;  the 
third  year  over  those  of  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Iowa. 
During  the  four  years  he  presided  over  everj'^  confer- 
ence existing  in  the  church.  All  this  territory  was 
traveled  over  by  private  conveyance.  In  1849  he 
was  again  elected  editor  of  the  Telescojje. 

The  Telesco2)e  was  now  in  much  better  condition 
than  during  his  previous  term  as  editor.  The  church  had 
learned  how  indispensable  it  was  to  her  prosperity,  and 
its  support  was  assured.  The  office  now,  under  his  judi- 
cious management,  underook  to  establish  a  "  book  con- 
cern,'' to  supply  the  literature  which  the  church  needed. 
The  work  had  to  be  done  at  both  ends  —  to  create  a  de- 
mand and  then  supply  it.  The  church  had  but  fcAV 
writers,  and  to  select  from  those  of  other  denomina- 
tions required  no  little  skill.  The  office  had  now  been 
removed,  from  the  two-story  frame  building  of  four 
rooms,  in  which  it  first  saw  the  light,  to  more  com- 
modious quarters  in  the  basement  of  the  large  United 
Brethren  Church,  built  with  special  reference  to  its 
accommodation  and  from  this  place  the  books  were 
published  and  sent  out.  During  this  time  our  first 
church  history  was  written,  and  printed  on  our  own 
press. 


352  WILLIAM  HANBY, 

Perhaps  there  was  no  one  in  the  church  at  that 
time  who  had  a  higlier  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
a  good  education  than  he.  The  church  needed  an  edu- 
cated ministry  and  an  intelHgent  people.  Up  to  this 
time  we  had  no  schools,  and  no  book  establishment 
worthy  of  the  name,  and  but  little  literature.  The 
ministry  needed  the  book  concern,  and  the  people 
needed  the  schools.  He  tried  to  make  the  TeUsGO])e  a 
very  John  the  Baptist,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  com- 
ing of  this  gospel  —  the  educational  work  of  the  church. 
It  was  during  this  term  of  service  that  the  Otterbein 
University,  the  first  school  of  the  church,  was  founded, 
followed,  in  something  over  a  year,  by  Mount  Pleas- 
ant College,  in  Pennsylvania.  He  labored  faith- 
fully to  secure  the  founding  of  Otterbein  University. 
He  was  on  the  first  committee  appointed  to  obtain  the 
school  then  known  as  "  Blendon  Young  Men's  Semi- 
nary," in  the  possession  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  located  in  Westerville,  Ohio,  and  was  ever 
after  its  firm  friend  and  supporter.  He  spent  many 
days,  taken  from  other  pressing  duties,  in  obtaining  its 
charter  from  the  Ohio  State  Legislature.  At  the  close 
of  this  term  of  office  his  connection  with  the  general 
work  of  the  church  ceased.  "We  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  he  would  again  have  been  elected  to  the 
office  of  bishop,  but  when  he  saw  himself  likely  to  re- 
ceive the  office  at  the  hands  of  his  brethren  he  with- 
drew his  name,  feeling  in  his  inmost  soul  that  it  was 
not  a  call  of  God,  and  no  influence  could  induce  him  to 
accept  a  calling  not  backed  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

In  1853  he  retired  from  the  more  public  work  of 
the  church.  After  visiting  for  a  time  and  regaining 
strength  somewhat,  he  again  went  into  the  work  of 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.      353 

the  ministry,  and  was  at  one  time  pastor  of  the  church 
at  Westerville.  Afterward  he  was  elected  financial 
agent  of  Otterbein  University,  and  again  traveled  a 
circuit.  He  was  loth  to  give  up  the  work  to  which  he 
had  given  his  life.  During,  the  remainder  of  his  life 
the  success  of  Otterbein  University  was  the  uppermost 
wish  of  his  heart,  and  he  was  for  a  long  time  a  resi- 
dent trustee,  and  generally  a  member  of  the  prudential 
committee. ;  At  one  time  all  his  property  was  liable  for 
its  debts,  and  when  remonstrated  with  concerning  it 
he  said,  "  Some  one  must  stand  for  it ;  why  not  I  ? "  He 
contributed  largely  of  his  means,  and  denied  himself 
and  family  many  things  in  order  to  help  along  the 
good  cause ;  toiled  early  and  late  that  his  children  and 
the  children  of  the  church  might  have  the  advantage 
of  the  culture  denied  him.  His  home  was  always  open 
to  the  student.  Many  a  sick  and  discouraged  boy  or 
o'irL  lono-ino:  for  home  and  friends,  found  cheer  and 
comfort  in  the  home  of  Bishop  Hanby. 

He  had  an  abiding  interest  in  young  men,  and 
never  failed  to  speak  that  word  in  season  which  the 
Bible  tells  us  is  so  good.  During  his  last  illness  affec- 
tionate messages  came  to  him  from  all  parts  of  the 
church  from  young  men  whose  fainting  faith  he  had 
never  failed  to  strengthen.  One  successful  young 
man  unhesitatingly  declared  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
quiet  watch  he  kept  over  his  spiritual  life  he  would 
have  fallen  away.  When  on  the  playground, when  he 
Avas  too  often  taunted  with  being  a  Christian,  and  be- 
came exasperated,  and  was  tempted  to  deny  his  Lord, 
he  felt  the  gentle  touch  of  the  loving  hand  on  his  head, 
and  the  low  voice  saying,  "  John,  are  you  still  trying 
to  be  a  Christian  ?"  and  he  felt  that  he  could  bear  any 


354:  WILLIAM  HANBY, 

persecution  rather  than  to  have  to  hang  his  head  and 
answer  "  No."  How  keen  and  earnest  his  interest  was 
in  all  that  pertained  to  the  welfare  of  the  school ! 
He  was  always  present  at  all  its  public  gatherings, 
rhetorical  exercises,  public  society  meetings,  until  he 
must  have  had  "  Demosthenes,  Cicero,  Greece  and 
Eome  "  on  his  brain,  as  class  after  class  flourished  and 
passed  on,  but  his  interest  to  the  time  of  his  death  never 
flagged. 

One  in  writing  of  him  said:  "Bishop  Han  by  was 
a  remarkable  man,  able,  with  breadth  of  view,  high  in- 
tellectuality, marked  elements  of  character,  strong  in- 
dividuality, energetic  and  persistent  in  purpose.  His 
influence  was  felt  wherever  he  wrought."  Said  another: 
"  His  small  but  lithe  frame  is  surmounted  by  a  head 
of  Napoleonic  size  ;  his  eye  is  dark,  his  skin  the  same, 
and  the  lines  encircling  his  mouth  indicate  a  thought- 
ful mind  and  a  decisive  character."  Rev.  I.  L.  Book- 
waiter  thus  describes  him :  "  In  personal  appearance 
he  was  always  clean,  neat  and  tidy,  a  standing  rebuke 
to  ministerial  slovenliness  which  was  somewhat  com- 
mon in  his  day.  He  was  of  medium  size,  rather  slight 
in  build,  complexion  dark,  and  had  very  penetrating 
black  eyes;  a  commanding  look,  with  pleasant,  inviting 
countenance.  His  social  nature  was  attractive,  and  in 
conversation  he  was  familiar  and  edifying.  He  was  a 
man  of  prayer,  and  his  inner  life  was  preeminently  one 
of  deep  piety.  In  his  pulpit  efforts  he  was,  perhaps,  not 
as  scholarly  as  some,  yet  he  was  a  residy  and  powerful 
preacher  in  his  prime.  "With  his  large  amount  of  mag- 
netism, and  when  under  the  special  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  his  preaching  would  sometimes  be  attended 
with  wonderful  results."  At  times  his  sermons  made 
impressions  on  his  hearers  which  remained  through  life. 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      355 

Some  were  so  impressed  that  after  a  lapse  of  forty  years 
they  would  be  able  to  recall  text  and  outline  with  vivid 
recollection  of  the  effect  produced  on  the  audience. 
"  He  was  in  every  respect  a  Christian  gentleman,  al- 
ways polite  and  reverent.  Thus  he  lived  and  thus  he 
trained  his  children." 

His  devotion  to  and  care  for  his  aged  mother  dur- 
ing a  period  of  thirty  3'ears  proved  his  reverence  for 
old  age.  His  business  tact  was  marked,  and  he  pos- 
sessed high  ideas  of  order.  Lawrence  says  of  him, 
"  As  a  financier  he  probably  saved  the  Telescope  office 
from  a  disgraceful  wreck,  and  as  bishop  he  did'  much 
to  establish  order,  especially  in  the  business  affairs  of 
the  church."  Bookwalter  says  that  fifty  years  before, 
Hanby  had  found,  in  southern  Ohio,  a  group  of  Euro- 
pean Germans  without  a  shepherd.  His  heart  was 
deeply  moved  for  their  spiritual  welfare.  He  urged 
Fathers  Cramer  and  Macklin  to  go  down  and  hunt 
them  up.  From  this  small  beginning,  which  started 
under  the  fostering  care  of  Mr.  Hanby,  has  come  a 
German  conference  of  over  2,000  members,  scattered 
over  Ohio  and  Indiana,  who  are  very  pious,  hard- 
working Christians,  with  some  of  the  blood  of  Otter- 
bein  and  Luther  coursing  in  their  veins. 

Hanby  wrote  and  published  a  history  of  the  church 
which  has  proved  very  valuable  to  later  writers.  He 
compiled  a  small  volume  of  h^^nns  at  an  early  day  for 
use  in  the  Sabbath  school,  the  best  of  its  kind  intro- 
duced into  our  church.  In  the  preface  to  the  edition 
appearing  in  1842  we  have  the  following :  "  The  happ}'^ 
results  growing  out  of  the  late  experiment  of  intro- 
ducing singing  into  the  Sabbath  schools  is  the  only 
apology  for  offering  tliis  little  work  to  the  public. 
Wherever  singing  has  been  adopted   the   number  of 


356  WILLIAM  HANBY, 

scholars  has  been  increased  four  fold."  Later  he  pre- 
pared a  careful  compilation  called  the  "  Church  Harp," 
for  the  use  of  churches.  In  1856,  after  a  sale  of  more 
than  40,000  copies,  he  had  it  revised,  and  it  was  better 
bound  tlian  its  predecessoi's  had  been.  He  was  one  of 
the  committee  which  prepared  the  hymn  book  that 
preceded  the  hymnal  now  in  use. 

He  filled  every  office  in  the  gift  of  the  church, 
from  class  steward  to  bishop,  which,  perhaps,  can  not 
be  said  of  any  other  man  in  the  church  at  that  time, 
but  strange  to  say,  he  filled  that  of  class  steward  after 
having  served  the  church  as  bishop.  The  beautiful 
thing  about  it  is  that  he  accepted  the  humblest  office 
in  exactly  the  same  spirit  as  the  highest,  and  discharged 
its  duties  with  just  as  great  conscientiousness  and 
faithfulness.  He  lived  economically,  though  few  had 
higher  appreciations  of  the  real  comforts  of  life.  This 
was  imperative,  for  while  most  of  his  contemporaries 
who  attained  to  eminence  in  the  church  were  men  of 
means,  either  in  their  own  right  or  their  wives',  he  was 
poor,  started  with  nothing,  always  received  an  in- 
adequate salary,  the  highest  being  $500,  yet  he  raised 
and  educated  nine  children,  eight  of  his  own,  and  one 
adopted  child;  supported  his  mother  and  stepfather  for 
many  years ;  constantly  kept  a  "  United  Brethren  Ho- 
tel," where  all  good  United  Brethren  felt  free  to  be 
entertained  without  money  and  without  price.  He 
assisted  in  every  benevolent  enterprise  and  gave  in  pri- 
vate charity  sums  he  never  dared  to  count.  He  was 
strictly  temperate  in  all  things,  teaching  and  practicing 
abstemiousness. 

He  possessed  a  very  tender  conscience,  was  slow  to 
give  offense  and  when  overtaken  in  a  fault  could  not  rest 
until  he  had  said,  "  Forgive  me,  I  was  wrong,"  even  if 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHEEN  IN  CHRIST.      35T 

the  injured  one  was  the  smallest  child.  Naturally  of  a 
quick,  impulsive  temper,  one  of  the  triumphs  of  grace 
in  him  was  its  transformation  into  one  of  patience  and 
gentleness.  He  scorned  to  injure  the  lowest  of  God's 
creatures.  He  was  master  of  the  secret  of  growino-  old 
gracefully.  No  one  ever  heard  him  complain  that  the 
former  times  were  better  than  these.  He  believed 
heartily  that  under  the  reign  of  the  blessed  Redeemer, 
the  world  was  growing  better.  He  was  "  up  with  the 
times,"  and  enthusiastic  in  any  new  enterprise  which 
promised  good  to  the  church  of  his  choice  or  the  cause 
of  humanity  in  any  direction.  He  gave  largely  of  his 
means,  and  did  it  not  for  praise  of  men.  Many  a  poor 
widow  or  afflicted  laborer  had  reason  to  bless  him  for 
his  disinterested  goodness.  During  the  sickly  season 
he  made  it  a  part  of  his  regular  work  to  go  about 
among  the  poor,  dispensing  medicines  furnished  from 
his  own  scanty  purse  to  those  who  w^ere  unable  to  em- 
ploy a  physician.  During  the  cholera  epidemic,  though 
ill  himself,  he  rode  to  those  he  feared  were  needing 
help,  until  finally  stricken  down  with  varioloid,  con- 
tracted in  some  of  the  wretched  homes  he  had  visited. 
It  was  his  custom  to  look  after  a  poor  widow's  wood- 
pile before  leaving  home  as  regularly  as  he  did  his  own. 
His  last  years  were  crowded  with  sorrows  and  suf- 
fering. His  oldest  son,  B.  R.  Hanby,  in  the  midst  of  a 
life  of  usefulness,  to  prepare  him  for  wdiich  his  father 
had  made  so  many  sacrifices,  was  called  home.  He 
was  soon  followed  by  the  second  son,  C3^rus,  a  man  of 
equal  usefulness  in  a  different  sphere.  In  the  year 
preceding  his  own  death  the  third  son,  Dr.  W.  O.  Han- 
by, joined  his  brothers  on  the  other  side.  So  of  the 
four  manly  boys  well  fitted  to  help  to  win  the  world 
to  Christ  but  the  voungest,   Samuel,   remained.     He 


358 


WILLIAM  HANBY, 


suffered  severe  attacks  of  illness  in  the  last  years  of 
his  life,  antl  through  the  misfortunes  of  others  saw 
all  his  pro}3erty  swept  away.  And  to  crown  all,  his 
wife,  with  whom  for  forty-nine  years  he  walked  the 
weary  way,  went  on  before,  and  left  him  to  finish  his  pil- 
grimage alone.  But  all  these  griefs,  which  would  have 
made  sour  and  bitter  a  man  of  weaker  faith,  only  drew 
him  closer  to  his  Savior,  and  though  the  smiles  had  to 
shine  through  tears,  they  were  blessed  tears,  that 
watered  his  heart  and  made  the  graces  grow.  One 
said  of  him,  "There  was  no  moroseness  nor  bitterness 
in  all  his  last  years."  His  spirit  was  as  sweet  as  a  Ht- 
tle  child,  and  his  words  full  of  grace. 

One  earthly  blessing  he  had  left,  in  which  his  soul 
took  unbounded  delight,  and  that  was  the  love  and 
devotion  of  his  children,  who  honored  him  and  cared 
for  him  with  an  affection  which  no  words  can  express. 
Overcome  by  this  exhibition  of  kindness  on  their  part, 
he  constantly  grew  sweeter  and  brighter  in  the  midst 
of  intense  pain  as  the  end  of  life  drew  near.  A  short 
time  before  coming  down  with  his  last  illness  one  of 
his  daughters  sitting  near  his  couch,  upon  which,  weak 
and  suffering,  he  was  reclining,  observed  him  quiet- 
ly weeping.  She  said  to  him  tenderly,  "What  is  it, 
father?  "  He  answered  "  Oh,  I  am  so  happy  ;  my  long 
toilsome  journey  is  nearly  ended ;  my  life  work  is 
joyfully  over ;  half  of  my  children  are  already  safe  in 
heaven,  and  I  am  just  as  sure  the  rest  will  be ;  half  are 
safe  at  home,  and  all  the  rest  are  on  the  way.  Mother 
is  there  (meaning  his  wife)  and  in  a  little  while  I  shall 
be  there,  too.  These  lines  are  in  my  mind  constantly : 
"  '  The  Lord  mj  shepherd  is, 

I  shall  be  well  supplied  ; 
Siuce  lie  is  mine  and  I  am  His, 

What  can  I  want  beside?'  " 


FIFTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHEEN  IN  CHEIST.      359 

He  passed  away  May  lY,  1880.  His  last  words  as  he 
called  back  from  the  brink  of  the  river  were,  "  I'm  in 
the  midst  of  glory."  At  his  funeral  many  heartfelt 
testimonials  were  made  to  his  life  of  usefulness  and 
blessing.  Rev.  J.  S.  Mills,  who  was  a  constant  and 
true  friend  through  all  the  recent  sorrows  of  the  family, 
and  who  conducted  the  funeral  services,  related  tlie 
following  occurrence  at  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  Eev. 
Joseph  Cook,  of  Boston,  to  Wester ville.  "  The  morn- 
ing after  his  lecture  Mr.  Cook  learned  of  the  person 
and  blessed  spiritual  condition  of  Brother  Hanby,  and 
that  while  he  was  bishop  and  editor  he  had  furnished 
shelter  to  the  fugitive  slave,  and  expressed  a  desire  to 
see  him.  Accompanied  by  Rev.  J.  S.  Mills  and  Presi- 
dent H.  A.  Thompson,  of  the  University,  at  whose  house 
he  was  being  entertained,  Mr.  Cook  went  to  visit  him, 
and  while  there  listened  with  marked  interest  to  the 
words  spoken  by  the  suffering  man.  He  spoke  of  his 
sympathy  with  Mr.  Cook's  work  in  the  field  of  Christ- 
ian science,  and  expressed  his  happiness  at  being  per- 
mitted to  see  him.  At  the  close  of  which  Mr.  Cook 
said,  "  I  have  come  for  your  blessing,"  and  taking  in 
his  hands  both  the  hands  of  the  bishop,  he  reverently 
bowed  his  head  while  Mr.  Hanby  gave  to  him  the  earn- 
est benediction,  '  May  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  God  be 
upon  you  and  upon  your  work';  and  Mr.  Cook  responded, 
'And  may  we  meet  in  the  city  that  hath  foundations.' 
Mr.  Hanby  finished  the  quotation,  '  Whose  builder  and 
maker  is  God.'  To  which  the  great  scholar  replied, 
'  Even  so  may  it  be.'  Every  one  was  thrilled  as  this 
spirit-prompted  ritual  was  uttered,  and  in  perfect  silence, 
which  no  one  dared  to  break,  the  visitors  passed  sol- 
emnlv  out." 


360  WILLIAM  HANBY. 

Rev.  E.  S.  Chapman  said :  "  I  would  willingly  be 
among  those  who  mourn  his  loss.  I  am  sure  my  life  is 
better  for  having  been  associated  with  him."  Bishop 
Dickson  said  :  "  He  was  resigned  and  cheerful  in  his 
last  illness.  He  was  strong  in  intellect,  possessing  a 
clear  mind,  but  also  stronger  in  faith.  He  was  emi- 
nently a  Christian  man,  and  accomplished  what  so 
many  more  have  failed  to  do  successfulh^,  brouglit  up 
a  large  family,  all  of  whom  are  earnest  Christians.  I 
consider  there  is  no  higher  test  of  man's  life  than  that." 
These  are  samples  of  the  many  beautiful  tributes  paid 
to  his  memory. 

He  was  ripe  for  the  celestial  harvest,  and  the  reapers 
have  carried  the  golden  sheaf  home  to  the  heavenly 
garner. 

"  Oh,  loved  of  thousands!  to  thy  grave. 

Sorrowing  of  heart,  thy  brethren  bore  thee; 
The  poor  man  and  the  rescued  slave 

Wept  as  the  broken  earth  closed  o'er  thee; 
And  grateful  tears,  like  summer  rain 
Quickened  its  dying  grass  again! 
And  there  as  to  some  pilgrim  shrine 

Shall  come  the  outcast  and  the  lowly. 
Of  gentle  deeds  and  words  of  thine 

Recalling  memories  sweet  and  holy. 

Oh,  for  the  death  the  righteous  die! 

An  end  like  autumn's  day  declining, 
■  On  human  hearts,  as  on  the  sky. 

With  holier,  tenderer  beauty  shining; 
As  to  the  parting  soul  were  given 
The  radiance  of  an  opening  heaven! 
As  if  that  pure  and  blessed  light, 

From  off  the  eternal  altar  flowing, 
Were  bathing,  in  its  upward  flight 

The  spirit  toits,worship  going." 


J^i^t^c^e<i'  3e^^^^<^^ 


DAVID  EDWARDS.  D.  D., 
SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


DAVID  EDWAEDS,  the  sixteenth  bishop  of  the 
United  Brethren  Church,  was  born  and  lived 
till  he  was  five  years  old  in  Denbigshire,  North  Wales. 
The  date  of  his  birth  was  May  5,  1816.  His  home  was 
near  the  banks  of  a  beautiful  mountain  stream,  the 
Tenat. 

Men  of  science  will  tell  us  that  heredity  and  envi- 
ronment are  the  most  potent  factors  in  the  formation  of 
human  character.  Be  this  as  it  may,  we  know  that  the 
ancestors  of  David  Edwards  were  endowed  with  those 
rigid,  positive  characteristics  that  everywhere  mark  the 
Welsh  as  a  people,  and  that  the  rugged  natural  scenery 
of  his  birthplace  —  its  mountain  slopes,  its  broad  val- 
leys, its  rough  hills,  its  deep  ravines  —  combined  wath 
the  severe  discipline  of  his  early  years,  were  well  cal- 
culated to  develop  the  marked  characteristics  of  the 
man  of  mature  years.  Descended  from  the  ancient 
Celts,  a  people  who  have  successfuly  resisted  the  en- 
croachments of  all  foreign  invaders,  who  have  been 
incorporated  Avith  but  never  conquered  by  the  subju- 
gators of  Britain,  the  Welsh  are  a  people  justly  proud 
of  their  origin,  and  while  American  life  reacted  upon 
the  mind  of  David  Edwards,and  in  a  v.ery  large  measure 
gave  tone  and  hue  to  his  character,  he  was,  neverthe- 
less, characteristically  a  Welshman,  and  throughout  life 
expressed  a  commendable  pride  of  ancestry.  He  did 
not  forget  that  he  was  a  Welshman. 

CCl 


362  DAVID   EDWARDS, 

His  father's  name  was  Edward  Edwards,  His 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Elizabeth  Davis.  Both 
father  and  mother  were  twice  married.  There  was  no 
offspring  of  his  father's  first  marriage,  and  but  one,  a 
son,  Thomas  Jones,  of  his  mother's  first  marriage.  To 
Edward  and  Ehzabeth  Edwards  were  born  six  chil- 
dren— Elizabeth,  John,  Ann,  Mary,  David  and  Sarah, 
Of  these  Mary  alone  survives,  Thomas,  the  half 
brother  of  these  was,  until  his  death  in  188G,  an  hon- 
ored citizen  of  Delaware,  Ohio.  The  Edwards  family 
were  not  the  owners  of  the  cottage  of  four  rooms  in 
which .  the  children  were  born.  It  belonged  to  the 
estate  of  a  wealthy  Englishman,  Edward  Edwards 
was  a  poor  man,  a  mason  by  trade,  whose  wealth  con- 
sisted merely  in  his  household  goods.  Both  the  father 
and  the  mother  were,  to  use  the  language  of  Bishop 
Edwards  himself,  "  deeply  pious,  rigid,  but  kind  in  the 
government  of  their  children." 

Their  religious  life  was  of  a  marked  and  healthful 
type,  manifesting  itself  in  the  strictest  integrity  and  in 
unbending  devotion  to  principle.  The  mother,  espe- 
cially, upon  whom  the  care  and  training  of  the  family 
devolved  after  the  early  death  of  the  father,  was  a 
woman  of  marked  individuality  and  of  clear  cut  re- 
ligious convictions,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  her  influ- 
ence was  preeminent  in  molding  the  character  and 
shaping  the  destiny  of  her  distinguished  son.  The 
family  were,  while  in  Wales,  members  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church.  This  denomination  had  erected  a  small 
church,  upon  the  estate  of  which  the  Edwards  cottage 
was  a  part.  Here  the  Edwards  family  worshiped 
and  attended  Sabbath-school,  Here  the  children  were 
baptized.     They  were  taught  to  pray  in  infancy,  and 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     363 

were  at  an  early  age  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  a 
change  of  lieart.  The  family  altar  was  an  institution 
of  their  every-day  life. 

In  the  spring  of  1821  the  Edwards  family  deter- 
mined to  seek  a  home  in  America,  where,  under  our  free 
institutions  and  in  our  broad  and  sparsely  settled  terri- 
tory, they  might  enjoy  a  fuller  degree  of  liberty  and 
equality,  and  secure  for  themselves  cheaper  and  better 
homes.  4 

They  left  their  home  April  10, 1821,  and  sailed  from 
Liverpool  May  2d,  arriving,  after  a  voyage  of  eight 
weeks,  in  the  city  of  Baltimore.  Here  they  lived  for 
two  years,  the  father,  meantime,  following  his  trade, 
the  half-brother  of  the  other  children  going  west  to 
Delaware,  Ohio,  to  which  place  the  family  followed 
him  in  the  early  part  of  1823. 

The  beautiful  town  of  Delaware,  now  the  seat  of 
Ohio  Wesley  an  University,  and  boasting  possession  of 
many  costly  church  edifices,  had  not  at  that  early  day 
a  single  house  of  worship.  The  religious  services  of 
all  denominations  were  held  in  tJie  courthouse. 

At  this  time  David  Edwards  was  seven  years  old. 
His  school  life  did  not  begin  until  after  the  death  of 
his  father,  which  occurred  in  1825.  But  his  education 
was  by  no  means  neglected.  In  his  home  more  than 
usual  care  was  given  to  instructing  the  children  in  read- 
ing, writing,  morals  and  manners.  Between  the  age 
of  nine  and  twelve  he  attended  school  twelve  months, 
the  only  advantage  of  this  kind  that  he  ever  enjoyed, 
and  these  school  days  were  interspersed  with  those  of 
labor  at  home,  in  the  shop  of  his  elder  brother,  Thomas, 
who  was  a  tailor,  and  at  whatever  other  remunerative 
employment  he  could  obtain. 


304  DAVID    EDWAEDS, 

Soon  after  the  death  of  his  father  he  entered  a 
woolen  factory  in  the  town  of  Delaware  to  learn  the 
trade  of  carding  and  cloth-dressing.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen  he  left  his  home  with  a  cash  capital  of  thirty- 
seven  cents  to  begin  work  as  a  journeyman  in  his  trade. 
He  found  employment  in  a  factory  at  Kockmills,  near 
Lancaster,  Fairfield  county,  Ohio. 

One  year  from  this  time,  May  28,  1834,  he  was 
converted  at  a  protracted  meeting  held  by  the  United 
Brethren  at  the  home  of  Jacob  Bolenbaugh.  From 
the  day  of  his  conversion  till  the  close  of  life  he  was  an 
earnest,  assiduous  worker  in  the  Master's  vineyard. 
Less  than  a  year  after  his  conversion,  May  23,  1835, 
he  was  licensed  to  preach.  He  possessed  an  exalted 
idea  of*the  sacred  calling  of  the  Christian  ministry. 
"None,"  said  he,  "are  true  ministers  of  Christ  but  they 
who  are  called  of  God,  as  was  Aaron.'-  Extremely  dif- 
fident but  ardently  earnest,  the  conflict  between  his 
modesty  and  sense  of  duty  was  such,  in  the  early 
years  of  his  ministry,  as  to  cause  him  to  shrink  from 
its  overpowering  responsibilities.  "  The  load  is  too 
heavy ;  I  can  not  bear  it :  O  what  shall  I  do  ?"  was  the 
language  of  his  heart,  burdened  with  a  responsibility 
for  which  he  felt  himself  unequal.  The  life  of  every 
one  who  has  arisen  to  distinction  in  the  Christian  min- 
istry bears  witness  to  the  fact  that  this  deeply  rooted 
sense  of  responsibility  is  an  element  essential  to  suc- 
cess. It  awakens  all  the  latent  energies  of  the  consci- 
entious soul,  and  sweeps  from  its  path  every  form  of 
opposition.  The  eye  becomes  so  intently  fixed  upon 
duty  that  it  loses  sight  of  impediments.  He  received 
quarterly  conference  license  from  Pickaway  cir- 
cuit, Mav    23,    1835.      Rev.    M.   Ambrose    Avas    the 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHEEN  IN  CHEIST.      365 

preacher  in  charge  of  this  work,  at  whose  re- 
quest young  Edwards  made  several  roands  with 
him  upon  the  circuit,  exhorting  after  or  preach- 
ing alternately  with  him.  In  November  of  the 
same  year  Kev.  E.  Van  Demark  took  charge  of  the 
circuit,  his  colleague  having  resigned.  At  his  request 
Mr.  Edwards  was  appointed  to  assist  him  during  the 
remainder  of  the  year.  Mr.  Edwards,  therefore,  began 
regular  itinerant  work  in  the  fall  of  1835,  while  as  yet 
holding  only  quarterly  conference  license.  At  the 
next  annual  session  of  the  Scioto  Conference  he  was 
admitted  to  membership,  and,  with  John  Eckart  as  a 
colleague,  was  assigned  to  Brush  Creek  circuit,  lying 
in  Ross,  Pike,  Adams,  Brown  and  Highland  counties, 
and  having  twenty-eight  regular  appointments,  to  meet 
which  it  was  requii'ed  to  travel  360  miles. 

At  the  time  David  Edwards  entered  the  ministr3'-, 
the  United  Brethren  Church  had  been  in  existence  as 
a  distinct  denomination  about  sixty  years,  but  it  was 
still  in  the  formative  period  of  its  organized  evangelical 
efforts.  At  the  General  Conference  immediately  pre- 
ceding, there  were  but  six  annual  conferences  to  send 
delegates,  and  these  were  presided  over  by  two  bishops, 
Henry  Kumler,  Sr.,  and  Christian  Newcomer.  There 
was  no  church  literature.  The  Religious  TelescojM  be- 
gan its  career  vrith  a  debt  of  $1,600  and  a  subscription 
list  of  $1,197  in  1834.  There  was  no  United  Brethren 
institution  of  learnino:  till  the  oro-anization  of  Otterbein 
University  in  1847.  There  was  no  missionary  society 
till  the  founding  of  the  Home,  Foreign  and  Frontier 
Missionary  Society  in  1853,  and  steps  were  not  taken 
to  found  Union  Biblical  Seminary,  our  iirst  theolog- 
ical school,  till  1869,     Bishop  Edwards  took  a  leading 


366  DAVID    EDWARDS, 

part  in  the  organization  of  all  these  church  institu- 
tions. Upon  all  these  departments  of  church  work  he 
bestowed  great  care  and  labor,  and  in  regard  to  them 
all,  as  well  as  to  the  Sabbath-school,  ho  entertained 
views  broad,  liberal  and  expansive. 

The  work  of  a  United  Brethren  minister  in  1835 
was  of  the  pioneer  character.  That  church  did  not  at 
that  time  have  a  dozen  church  houses  in  the  whole 
State  of  Ohio.  Churches  were  organized  and  religious 
services  were  held  in  barns  and  private  houses.  Rail- 
roads, telegraphs,  telephones,  steamboats  and  many  of 
the  other  inventions  essential  to  the  civilization  of  to- 
day were  actually,  or  practically  at  least,  unknown  in 
Ohio.  The  country  was  sparsely  settled,  the  roads 
were  rough  and  most  of  the  streams  unbridged.  The 
circuits  of  the  average  minister  were  hundreds  of  miles 
in  extent,  and  the  salaries  received,  a  mere  pittance, 
amounting  in  most  cases  to  from  $50  to  $150  a  year. 
Lovers  of  ease  do  not  seek  such  fields  of  labor.  They 
must  be  filled  by  those  who  go  forth  in  response  to  the 
imperative  call  of  duty  alone. 

At  the  time  David  Edwards  joiined  the  Scioto  Con- 
ference he  Avas  twenty  years  old.  He  was  possessed 
of  but  a  limited  education,  but  was  a  close  student.  In 
the  first  years  of  his  ministry,  notwithstanding  the 
arduous,  exacting  character  of  his  work,  he  devoted 
much  time  to  the  study  of  books.  "  He  was  very 
studious,"  says  Dr.  Davis,  his  biographer,  "always  carry- 
ing ^vith  him  a  Kew  Testament  and  Kirkham's  gram- 
mar and  other  books.  He  studied  much  on  horseback, 
and  so  occupied  himself  with  books  at  his  stopping 
places  that  he  was  regarded  by  some  as  very  poor 
company.     He  was  methodical  in  his  work,  careful  of 


SIXTEENTH  JUSHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       367 

his  personal  appearance  and  regular  in  his  habits." 
His  whole  ministerial  life  was  one  of  growth.  True  he 
possessed  from  the  first  the  embryonic  elements  of  his 
future  greatness,  but  they  were  developed  by  cultiva- 
tion ;  they  were  unfolded  under  those  genial  influences 
that  are  the  invariable  concomitants  of  a  life  of  devo- 
tion to  the  work  of  saving  and  elevating  men. 

The  conference  of  1837  assigned  him,  along  with  his 
colleague  of  the  preceding  year,  to  Winchester  circuit, 
which  lay  in  the  counties  of  Franklin,  Pickaway,  Lick- 
ing and  Fairfield.  The  third  year  of  his  ministry  he 
was  sent  to  Raccoon  circuit  lying  in  Athens,  Vinton, 
and  Meigs  counties,  his  colleague  being  Rev.  A.  Eby. 
At  the  conference  of  1839,  held  at  Pleasant  River,  Mr. 
Edwards,  along  with  Lewis  D.  Ambrose  and  W.  W. 
Coons,  were  elected  to  elders'  orders  and  ordained  by 
Bishop  Henry  Kumler,  Sr. 

Mr.  Edwards  had  now  labored  as  a  minister  faith- 
fully and  efficiently  for  three  years;  they  had  been 
years  of  rich  experience  and  healthful  growth.  He  was 
already  beginning  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  senior 
members  of  his  conference  as  a  young  minister  of  rich  en- 
dowments and  great  promise.  A  studious,  methodical, 
painstaking  preacher,  full  of  zeal,  duly  tempered  with 
prudence,  fearless  in  the  discharge  of  duty,  he  com- 
bined those  elements  that  warrant  success.  Dr.  Davis 
says  of  him  that  "his  preaching  at  this  time  seemed 
attended  with  great  power."  The  salary  received  b}' 
Mr.  Edwards  the  first  three  years  of  his  ministry  was 
not  such  as  would  inspire  a  young  minister  aspiring  to 
ease  and  affluence.  The  first  year  he  received,  all  told, 
$55,  the  second  $80,  the  third  $80. 

The  conference  of  1839  assigned  him  to  Burlington 


368  DAVID    EDWARDS, 

circuit,  which  lay  along  the  southern  borders  of  the 
conference  in  its  roughest  and  poorest  parts,  near  the 
Ohio  river.  Here  his  labors,  while  arduous,  were  at- 
tended with  encouraging  success,  but  at  the  end  of  the 
year  he  found  his  health  so  impaired  by  disease  of  the 
throat  that  he  went  to  the  conference  expecting  to  with- 
draw from  active  ministerial  work.  The  conference 
however  appointed  him  presiding  elder  of  Jackson  Mis- 
sion, West  Virginia.  At  the  conferences  of  1841  and 
1842  he  took  no  work,  but  he  preached  during  these 
years  almost  every  Sabbath,  and  attended  the  sessions 
of  his  Annual  Conference. 

December  10,  1839,  while  in  charge  of  Burlington 
circuit,  he  was  united  in  matrimony  with  Miss  Lucre- 
tia  Hibbard,  Kev.  W.  E.  McKabe  being  the  officiating 
clergyman.  Miss  Hibbard  came  of  a  highly  respect- 
able family.  Her  father  was  a  lawyer,  living  near 
Athens,  Ohio.  Her  parents  had  formerly  been  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  at  the  time  of 
her  marriage  were  United  Brethren.  Her  father  and 
brother  were  at  this  time  both  members  of  the  Scioto 
Conference,  and  her  oldest  sister  was  the  wife  of  Rev. 
John  Miller,  also  a  member  of  the  Scioto  Conference. 
Of  the  family  and  home  life  of  Mr.  Edwards,  occasion 
will  be  takfen  to  speak  more  fully  hereafter. 

Mr.  Edwards,  after  his  marriage,  made  his  home 
at  Centerville,  Ohio.  Here,  during  the  summer  of 
1840,  he  followed  his  trade  of  carding.  Durino-  the 
winter  months  of  that  year,  however,  having  no  work 
in  the  line  of  his  trade,  both  he  and  Mrs.  Edwards, 
who  had  previously  been  a  teacher,  engaged  in  teach- 
ing. The  next  year  they  removed  to  Eushville,  Fair- 
field county,   Ohio,  where  he  again   engaged  in   the 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.       369 

business  of  carding  and  cloth-dressing,  at  first  alone, 
afterward  in  partnership  with  Mr.  George  Stults. 

Mr.  Edwards  Avent  up  to  the  conference  of  1843, 
greatly  improved,  both  in  health  and  finances.  In  the 
meantime  he  had,  as  the  result  of  earnest  and  per- 
sistent efforts,  made  great  progress  as  a  preacher  and 
student.  The  conference  assigned  him,  with  Kev. 
Jesse  AVilson  as  a  colleague,  to  Muskingum  circuit, 
which  was  500  miles  around.  At  the  conference  of 
1844  he  was  assigned  to  Circleville  station,  the  most 
important  work,  perhaps,  in  his  conference.  The 
office  of  the  Religious  Telescope  was,  at  this  time,  at 
this  place,  and  Circleville  was  then  to  the  United 
Brethren  Church  what  Dayton  is  to-day,  the  center 
from  which  radiated  its  literature,  the  power  of  which 
was  already  beginning  to  be  felt  in  the  church. 

.  Mr.  Edwards  was  well  received,  and  his  labors  were 
abundantly  blessed.  The  membership  of  his  charge, 
was,  during  this  one  year  of  his  pastorate,  increased 
from  125  to  716.  The  editor  of  the  Beligious  Telescope, 
speaking  of  his  ministry  at  this  time  says,  "■  Our  present 
very  worthy  pastor,  Eev.  D.  Edwards,  is  very  well  re- 
ceived. Those  who  attend  his  ministry  seem  to  be  very 
much  delighted  with  his  cogent,  pointed  and  spiritual 
sermons.  Large  and  increasing  congregations  attend 
his  ministry." 

The  Annual  Conference  of  1845  elected  him  pre- 
siding elder  of  the  Circleville  district,  but  at  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  which  convened  at  Circleville,  in 
May  of  the  same  year,  he  was,  to  his  surprise,  elected 
to  the  office  of  editor  of  the  Religious  Telescope.  This 
periodical  was,  as  we  have  seen,  first  published  eleven 
years  previously.  As  before  stated,  it  began  its  exist- 
ence in  debt,  and  with  a  small  subscription  list.     It 


370  DAVID    EDWARDS, 

was  conducted  upon  the  credit  system,  as  to  its  sub- 
scription list,  and  bad  until  about  two  years  before 
added  to,  ratlier  tban  diminished  its  liabilities.  At 
the  General  Conference  of  1845,  the  cash  system  was 
adopted.  At  this  time  its  subscribers  numbered  about 
2,000,  and  "  the  proceeds  above  contingent  expenses 
were  reckoned  at  $600."  Four  years  of  prosperity 
followed  the  election  of  Mr.  Edwards.  "  The  paper," 
says  John  Lawrence,  "  was  well  edited,  and  its  finances 
judiciously  managed;  and  in  1849,  after  a  struggle  of 
fourteen  years,  the  debts  of  the  concern  were  all  can- 
celed, and  it  was  placed  in  a  position  to  begin  to  ac- 
quire the  means  of  usefulness." 

In  the  editorial  work  of  Mr.  Edwards,  we  see  his 
aptitude  for  adapting  himself  to  new  lines  of  work. 
He  had,  previously  to  entering  upon  his  editorial  work, 
written  an  occasional  article  for  the  Telescojye.  Aside 
from  this  he  had  had  no  experience  as  a  writer.  His 
education  was  limited.  The  whole  field  was  new.  But 
he  entered  upon  the  work  with  his  accustomed 
vio-or  and  earnestness.  The  work  was  new  to  the 
church  as  well  as  to  the  editor.  Contributors  were 
scarce  and  contributions  furnished  for  publication 
lacked  many  of  the  elements  that  make  their  reading- 
instructive  and  edifying.  He  aimed  to  make  the  Tele- 
scope what  it  sliould  be,  the  organ  of  the  whole  church  ; 
to  make  it  broader  in  character  and  higher  in  tone. 
Upon  matters  of  moral  reform  it  gave  no  uncertain 
sound.  It  was  always  earnest  and  often  radical  in  its 
support  of  temperance,  anti-slavery  and  anti-secrecy — 
the  burning  questions  of  those  times. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  question  upon  which  the  rec- 
ord of  the  United  Brethren   Church   has  been  clearer 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      371 

or  more  consistent  than  upon  that  of  slavery.  With 
the  church,  as  a  church,  it  has  been  that  of  unquah- 
iied  opposition  to  that  institution.  In  this,  at  one  time 
it,  as  a  church,  stood  almost  alone  among  the  churches. 
The  growth  of  the  slave  power  made  it  very  unpopular, 
even  in  the  North,  to  speak  or  write  against  this  over- 
shadowing evil,  and  even  in  the  United  Brethren 
Church  there  were  those  who  from  motives  of  policy, 
deprecated  the  agitation  of  the  question. 

In  the  first  years  of  the  publication  of  the  Tele- 
scojje,  the  General  Conference  delegated  to  the  Scioto 
Conference  the  management  of  that  paper  during  the 
four  years  intervening  between  the  sessions  of  the 
former.  So  strong  had  the  conservative  spirit  grown 
in  the  Scioto  Conference,  that  at  the  session  of  1839 
the  discussion  of  the  slavery  question  was  forbidden 
in  the  columns  of  the  Telescope  by  the  conference. 
Mr.  Edwards  entered  a  vigorous  protest.  For  four 
years  he  and  others  of  the  conference  fought  against 
the  "  gag  rule,"  giving  no  rest  and  taking  none  them- 
selves until  they  had  secured  its  repeal. 

At  the  General  Conference  that  elected  Mr.  Ed- 
wards editor,  the  question  of  church  education  became 
one  of  absorbing  interest.  The  General  Conference 
assumed  an  attitude  favorable  to  this  branch  of  church 
work,  and  at  the  Scioto  Conference  in  1846,  definite 
steps  were  taken  toward  the  founding  of  Otterbein 
University.  Scioto  leading,  and  several  adjacent  con- 
ferences cooperating,  the  work  was  begun  in  1847.  In 
conference  and  through  the  columns  of  the  Teleseojye 
Mr.  Edwards  exerted  his  influence  in  favor  of  this 
work.  "  His  services,"  says  Dr.  Davis,  "  were  espe- 
cially valuable  in  showing  the  importance  of  maintain- 


372  DAVID  EDWAKDS, 

ing  a  close  connection  between  education  and  vital 
godliness.  This  was  his  chief  concern  when  he  saw 
the  church  commit  itself  to  this  great  work.  All  his 
editorials  and  public  addresses  on  this  subject  clearly 
show  that  this  was  uppermost  in  his  mind." 

While  Mr.  Edwards  gave  earnest  attention  to 
education,  missions.  Sabbath  schools  and  church  liter- 
ature, his  chief  attention,  especially  during  his  editorial 
career,  was  given  to  the  inward  or  higher  Christian 
life  of  the  church.  About  the  year  1844  the  church  of 
the  United  Brethren  began  to  give  more  attention  than 
it  had  ever  before  devoted  to  the  question  of  holiness 
or  sanctification,  in  that  sense  which  implies  immediate 
and  entire  consecration  to  God.  This  was  not,  indeed, 
a  new  doctrine  to  the  church.  Otterbein,  Newcomer, 
the  fathei's  of  tlie  church  in  general,  held  enlarged  and 
well  defined  views  upon  this  subject.  But  while  the 
doctrine  of  sanctification  was  believed  and  taught  by 
all,  there  was  a  diversity  of  views  held  as  to  the  date, 
nature  and  extent  of  the  work,  and  indeed  it  may  be 
said  that  this  diversity  of  opinion  still  exists.  Many 
contended  that  entire  sanctification  is  a  gradual  work, 
often  not  complete  till  the  end  of  life.  Some  held  that 
at  the  new  birth  the  heart  is  completely  purified,  and 
that  development  is  the  only  subsequent  change,  while 
yet  others  believed  in  sanctification  as  taught  by  the 
first  class,  but  thought  that  humility  should  restrain 
Christians  from  professing  it. 

In  the  year  1844  Jesse  Wilson,  who  has  been  al- 
ready mentioned  as  a  colleague  of  Mr.  Ed  wards,  claimed 
to  have  received  the  blessing  of  entire  santification. 
Eight  days  afterward  Mr.  Edwards  claimed  to  have 
attained  the  same  spiritual  condition.     He  immediately 


SIXTEENTH  BISIIOI'  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      373 

became  a  most  zealous  and  successful  advocate  of  the 
doctrine.  Many  of  the  ablest  ministers  and  lajmien  of 
the  church  soon  afterward  made  a  public  profession  of 
the  same  experience.  A  few  months  afterward  Mr. 
Edwards  was  elected  to  the  position  of  editor  of  the 
Religious  Telescope  and  here  the  great  subject  on  which 
his  mind  and  heart  were  employed,  says  Dr.  Davis 
"  more  than  any  other,  indeed  more  than  all  others,  es- 
pecially during  the  period  over  which  we  are  now  pass- 
ing, was  holiness  of  heart  and  life.  This  was  his  cen- 
tral thought  on  all  questions  of  church  life  and  spirit. 
In  this  field,  at  least,  he  was  at  home.  And  no  wonder, 
for  it  was  with  him  a  rich  experience.  He  made  the 
Telescope  ring  with  the  subject  as  it  never  did  before 
or  since.  It  impressed  his  best  editorials  and  governed 
largely  the  selections  made.  The  proclamation  of  the 
subject  in  his  first  editorial  became  the  keynote  for  cor- 
respondents throughout  the  entire  term.  In  a  word, 
everything  was  made  to  bend  to  ttiis  one  all-absorbing 
theme.  No  mind  was  ever  more  indefatigably  em- 
ployed, no  heart  ever  more  fully  poured  out  in  connec- 
tion with  the  advocacy  of  this  doctrine  than  was  the 
mind  and  heart  of  David  Edwards.  It  is  doubtful  if 
this  particular  doctrine  of  entire  sanctilication  has  ever 
been  stated  more  clearly,  more  profoundly  and  in  a 
way  less  liable  to  objection  than  as  stated  by  him;  one 
of  the  proofs  is  that  he  carried  with  him  in  this  move- 
ment so  many  of  the  best  minds  in  the  church,  and  that 
of  those  who  were  not  convinced  so  few  ventured  to 
oppose  him." 

In  1846  he  published  a  work  of  256  pages  under 
the  title  of  "  The  Perfect  Christian."  This  volume 
was  widely  circulated  and  exerted  an  extensive  influ- 


374  DAVID  EDWARDS, 

ence  throughout  the  church.  It  is  not  believed,  nor  is 
it  claimed,  that  Mr.  Edwards  succeeded  in  influencing 
the  entire  church  to  adopt  his  views  upon  this  absorbing 
question.  Such,  indeed,  is  not  the  case.  But  his  influ- 
ence along  this  line  was  in  the  highest  sense  helpful. 
It  was  always  exerted  in  directing  the  minds  of  his 
people  to  the  contemplation  of  higher  and  purer  ideals 
of  Christian  character,  and  in  inspiring  them  each  to 
redoubled  efforts  for  the  realization  of  that  ideal  in 
their  own  lives.  His  influence  w^as  all  the  more  im- 
portant since  it  was  exerted  at  a  critical  period  in  the 
formative  life  of  the  church,  "  when  the  views  of  the 
church  upon  these  vital  questions  Avere  crystallizing 
themselves  into  forms  of  law." 

Up  to  the  time  that  Mr,  Edwards  became  editor, 
that  office  and  that  of  publisher  were  filled  by  the 
same  person.  Arrangements  were  made  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1845  to  divide  the  work  by  electing 
a  publisher,  but  as  neither  of  the  two  persons  elected 
accepted  that  position,  the  work  still  fell  upon  the  edi- 
tor, whose  work  had  been  greatly  increased  by  chang- 
ing the  Tel€sco2)e  from  a  semi-monthly  to  a  w^eekly  pe- 
riodical. The  salar}^  of  the  editor  was  $350  and  free 
house  rent. 

David  Edwards,  J.  Montgomery  and  M.  Ambrose 
were  delegates  from  the  Scioto  Conference  to  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1849,  which  met  at  Germantown, 
Ohio.  Mr.  Edwards  was  reelected  to  the  office  of  edi- 
tor, but  preferring  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  min- 
istry, he  declined  to  accept.  Kev.  "William  Hanby,  who 
had  been  Mr.  Edw^ards'  editorial  predecessor,  now  be- 
came his  successor,  and  David  Edwards,  J.  J.  Glossbren- 
ner  and  Jacob  Erb  w^ere  chosen  bishops.     Mr.  Edwards 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.      875 

was  at  this  time  but  thirty-three  years  of  age.  When 
we  remember  his  extreme  youthfulness,  together  with 
the  fact  that  the  General  Conference  was  composed  of 
the  leading  men  of  the  church,  we  can  form  some  idea 
of  the  high  place  he,  even  at  this  early  age,  held  in  the 
estimation  of  his  brethren. 

The  attitude  of  Bishop  Edwards  toward  secret 
societies  was  always  that  of  uncompromising  opposition. 
The  rule  of  the  discipline  when  the  General  Conference 
of  1849  met,  was  :  "  Freemasonry  in  every  sense  of  the 
word  shall  be  totally  prohibited  and  in  no  wise  toler- 
ated in  our  society."  The  rule  was  amended  to  read, 
•'  Freemasonry  in  every  sense  of  the  word  shall  be 
totally  prohibited,  and  there  shall  be  no  connection 
with  secret  combinations."  Bishop  Edwards  voted 
and  spoke  in  favor  of  the  change. 

Bishop  Edwards  was  assigned  to  the  middle  district, 
consisting  of  Muskingum,  Scioto,  Sandusky,  White 
River  and  St.  Joseph  conferences.  By  a  special  arrange- 
ment, however,  he  exchanged  work  the  first  round 
with  Bishop  Glossbrenner,  who  had  been  assigned  to 
the  northwest  district,  consisting  of  the  Iowa,  Illinois, 
Wabash,  Indiana  and  Miami  conferences.  This  his 
first  round  he  made  in  company  with  his  family  in  a 
one-horse  carriage.  The  trip  occupied  two  and  one-half 
months,  during  which,  in  addition  to  his  regular  work, 
he  preached  at  various  points  all  along  his  line  of  travel. 
There  was  no  leisure ;  his  entire  time  was  occupied. 
His  motto  then  as  ever  during  his  ministry  was,  ''  I  must 
work  now." 

From  1844  to  1849  the  home  of  Bishop  Edwards  had 
been  at  Circleville.  In  order  to  be  more  conveniently 
located  with  respect  to  his  work  he,  in  the  autumn  of 


376  DAVID  EDWARDS, 

1849,  removed  to  a  small  tract  of  land  owned  by  his 
wife  near  Toledo,  Ohio.  From  this  point  the  confer- 
ences of  his  district  were  more  accessible  by  railroad 
and  here  the  cost  of  living  was  less  likely  to  be  in  excess 
of  his  meager  salary. 

During  this  quadrennial  he  was  absent  from  but 
one  session  of  one  conference,  that  of  the  Muskingum, 
and  this  absence  was  occasioned  by  a  serious  sickness 
and  protracted  convalescence  which  in  1850  threatened 
to  terminate  his  ministerial  career. 

A^  the  General  Conference  of  1 853,  which  met  at 
Miltonville,  Ohio,  Mr.  Edwards  was  reelected  bishop, 
and  assigned  to  the  southwest  district,  embracing  the 
Miami,  White  Eiver,  Indiana,  Wabash,  Illinois,  German 
and  Missouri  conferences.  J.  J.  Glossbrenner  and  Lewis 
Davis  were  his  colleagues. 

Up  to  this  time  no  general  course  of  reading  had 
been  adopted  for  the  ministry.  The  General  Confer- 
ence appointed  a  committee  of  which  Bishop  Edwards 
was  a  member,  to  mark  out  such  a  course.  The  report 
of  this  committee  was  adopted,  and  thus  the  first  formal 
steps  toward  ministerial  education  were  taken  by  the 
church. 

This  general  conference  authorized  the  publication 
of  a  magazine  under  the  title  of  ^^The  Unitywith  God  and 
Magazine  of  Sacred  Literature^  Mr,  Edwards  was  elec- 
ted editor  of  this  periodical.  The  object  of  this  magazine 
was  stated  by  a  committee  appointed  to  set  forth  its 
aim  and  scope.  "  First  and  above  all,  the  entire  regen- 
eration and  sanctification  of  heart  and  life."  Second, 
"  to  show  that  slavery  is  sinful  under  all  possible  and 
conceivable  circumstances."  Third,  "  Freemasonry,  in 
all  its   forms  and  aspects,"  was  to  be  "  freely  and  fear- 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.      377 

lessly  discussed."  Fourth,  "  to  advocate  the  cause  of 
a  proper  education."  Fifth,  "to  publish  the  biog- 
raphies of  distinguished  ministers  and  others,"  and  to 
give  attention  to  ''  tlie  movements  of  the  age  with  re- 
spect to  the  kingdom  of  Christ."  Bishop  Edwards  was 
also  elected  editor  of  the  Childreii's  Friend^  a  Sab- 
bath school  paper  of  which  this  General  Conference  now 
determined  to  begin  the  publication. 

Thus  we  see  that  while  two  new  conferences  had 
been  added  to  his  district,  a  large  amount  of  editorial 
work,  along  lines  new  to  himself  as  well  as  to  the 
church,  had  been  imposed  upon  him.  This  new  work 
compelled  a  change  of  residence  as  a  departure  from  his 
former  plans  of  ministerial  work.  He  in  the  summer 
of  1853  removed  to  Dayton,  Ohio,  to  which  place  this 
General  Conference  had  removed  the  publishing  house. 
He  arranged  to  meet  all  the  conferences  of  his  district 
inside  a  period  of  three  months  and  to  devote  all  his  re- 
maining time  and  energies  to  his  editorial  work.  The 
first  number  the  Unity  Magazine  was  issued  in  Novem- 
ber, 1853,  and  the  first  of  the  Children's  Friend  in  May, 
1854.  The  General  Conference  of  1853  had  organized 
the  "  Home,  Foreign  and  Frontier  Missionary  Societ3^" 
Bishop  Edwards  was  elected  a  vice-president  of  this  or- 
ganization and  he  was  a  member  and,  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  time,  an  ofiicer  of  this  society  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1857,  which  met  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  Bishop  Edwards  was  reelected  and 
again  assigned  to  the  southwest  district,  which  during 
this  quadrennial  was  composed  of  the  White  River, 
Wabash,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Miami,  Auglaize,  Kansas, 
Missouri    and    Kentucky    conferences.     Three    other 


378  DAVID  EDWARDS, 

bishops  were  chosen  ;  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  L.  Davis  and 
John  Russel.  Bishop  Edwards  was  now  freed  from 
editorial  work  and  enabled  henceforth  to  devote  his 
entire  attention  to  superintending  his  conferences, 
dedicating  churches,  assisting  in  revival  work  and  look- 
ing after  general  church  interests.  He,  with  the  other 
bishops,  had  been  constituted  a  committee  to  examine 
the  manuscript  of  the  revised  hymn  book.  This  they 
did  at  a  meeting  at  Grafton,  W.  Va.,  in  the  winter  of 
1858. 

Bishop  Edwards  was  elected  for  a  fourth  term  at  the 
General  Conference  of  1861,  which  met  at  Westerville, 
Ohio.  He  was  again  assigned  to  the  southwest  dis- 
trict. The  growth  of  the  church  during  the  preceding 
quadrennial  had  been  such  as  to  lead  to  the  formation 
of  seven  new  Annual  Conferences,  making  the  total  num- 
ber at  this  time  forty.  Four  other  bishops,  J.  J.  Gloss- 
brenner, J.  Markwood,  Daniel  Shuck  and  Henry  Kum- 
ler,  Jr.,  were  elected.  The  conferences  of  Bishop  Ed- 
wards' district  were  the  Upper  Wabash,  Lower  "Wa- 
bash, Miami,  White  River,  Scioto,  Missouri,  Indiana, 
Kansas  and  Illinois. 

These  were  the  days  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  and 
owing  to  the  disturbances  arising  therefrom  in  the 
border  States,  Bishop  Edwards  did  not  attend  the  ses- 
sions of  the  Missouri  and  Kansas  conferences  in  1861. 
For  the  same  reason  Bishop  Glossbrenner,  whose  home 
was  in  Virginia,  could  not  attend  the  conferences  of  his 
district.  A  large  part  of  the  latter's  work,  therefore, 
fell  upon  Bishops  Edwards  and  Markwood.  About  this 
time  the  church  was  much  disturbed  by  the  secrecy 
question,  and  other  questions  growing  out  of  the  war  of 
the  Rebelhon.  The  General  Conference  had  so  changed 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      379 

the  rule  respecting  secret  societies  as  to  deal  with  mem- 
bers connecting  themselves  with  them  "  as  in  otlier  cases 
of  immorality."  Bishop  Edwards  was  a  leading  advo- 
cate of  this  change.  He  was  thoroughly  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  all  secret  organizations  are  immoral 
in  their  nature  and  tendencies,  and  his  position  upon 
questions  of  morals  was  never  decided  or  modified  by 
policy, 

In  the  spring  of  1861,  Secretary  Stanton  had  issued  an 
order  that  "  all  churches  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  not  occupied  by  a  loyal  minister,  should 
be  turned  over  to  the  disposal  of  Bishop  Ames.  As  the 
United  Brethren  had  been  doing  and  planning  mission- 
ary work  at  and  near  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  it  was  feared  that 
the  above  order  would  prove  detrimental  to  this  work. 
Bishop  Edwards  and  D.  K.  Flickinger,  therefore,  visited 
Washington  to  secure,  if  possible,  such  rulings  as 
would  avoid  impending  difficulties.  In  this  they  were 
entirely  successfuL'" 

Bishop  Edwards  was  reelected  for  a  fifth  quadren- 
nial at  the  General  Conference  which  held  its  session 
at  Western,  Iowa,  in  May,  1865.  At  this  General  Con- 
ference some  further  advancement  was  made  toward 
the  education  of  the  ministrv.  The  growth  of  senti- 
ment in  that  direction  was  not  sufficiently  advanced,  it 
was  thought,  to  warrant  the  founding  of  a  theological 
school.  The  most  that  could  l)e  done  at  this  time  was 
to  recommend  the  formation  of  classes  in  the  literary 
schools  of  the  church,  in  those  studies  laid  down  in  the 
course  of  reading  prescribed  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence for  ministers. 

The  views  of  Bishop  Edwards  upon  this  question 
are  indicated  in  the  following  extract  from  a  speech 


380  DAVID    EDWAiJDS, 

made  by  him  in  the  General  Conference.  "  We  are 
all  aiming  at  the  same  thing.  Perhaps  our  opposition 
to  theological  schools  originated  in  superstition.  Our 
ministers  should  be  educated.  We  should  do  some- 
thing to  prevent  the  evils  we  fear.  We  have  no  theo- 
logical institutions  yet,  and  now  while  w^e  have  them 
not,  let  us  adopt  a  plan  which  will  give  us  the  thing  we 
want  without  the  evils  we  apprehend.  The  best  plan 
will  be  to  give  our  young  men,  who  are  to  become  min- 
isters, along  with  their  college  course  a  training  in 
theological  studies  which  they  need." 

About  this  time  much  interest  was  aroused  through- 
out the  church  b}'^  two  series  of  controversial  articles 
which  appeared  in  the  Telescope  from  the  pen  of  Bishop 
Edwards  —  the  first  in  opposition  to  the  use  of  instru- 
mental music  in  the  churches,  the  second  in  defense  of 
the  church  rule  respecting  secret  societies.  His  oppo- 
nent in  the  first  case  was  Prof .  S.  B.  Allen,  in  the  second 
Prof.  Henry  Garst,  of  Otterbein  University. 

The  opposition  to  church  choirs  and  to  the  use  of 
instrumental  music  in  the  churches  has  almost  disap- 
peared, and  the  views  respecting  secret  orders  held  by 
the  church  at  that  time  have  been  greatly  modified,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  discussions  had  great 
weight  in  molding  the  opinions  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church  of  to-day  upon  these  questions. 

At  the  fifteenth  General  Conference,  which  convened 
at  Lebanon,  Pa.,  in  May,  1869,  Bishop  Edwards  was 
reelected  for  a  sixth  term.  His  district,  the  East  Mis- 
sissippi, was  composed  of  the  St.  Joseph,  White  Piver, 
Lower  Wabash,  Upper  Wabash,  Illinois,  Central  Hli- 
nois,  Indiana  and  Michigan  conferences.  In  1871  he 
visited  and  presided  at  the  Oregon,  Cascade  and  Cali- 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHKIST.      381 

fornia  conferences.  His  interest  in  the  work  of  church 
education  increased  year  by  year,  and  that  interest  was 
especially  manifested  in  the  welfare  of  Union  Biblical 
Seminary,  the  first  theological  school  of  the  church, 
which  was  opened  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  in  1871.  At  the 
commencement  of  Westfield  College,  in  1872,  he  had 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  He  had 
assisted  in  the  dedication  of  that  college  in  1865.  In 
June,  1872,  he  delivered  the  annual  address  before  the 
students  of  Union  Biblical  Seijiinary. 

From  1853  to  1863  Bishop  Edwards  resided  at 
Dayton,  Ohio;  from  1863  to  1869  on  a  small  farm  near 
Sonora,  Ohio ;  from  1869  to  1873  at  Lexington,  McLean 
county.  111.  After  the  General  Conference  of  1873  he 
removed  to  Baltimore,  Md,,  which  place  he  made  his 
home  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

.The  last  General  Conference  which  Bishop  Edwards 
attended,  held  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  in  May,  1873,  re- 
elected him  to  the  office  which  he  had  now  held  unin- 
terruptedly for  twenty-four  years,  and  assigned  him  to 
the  east  district,  composed  of  the  Erie,  Alleghany, 
Tennessee,  Pennsylvania,  Parkersburg  and  East  Ger- 
man conferences.  This  was  the  first  time  that  he  had 
been  assigned  to  the  East.  True,  he  had  visited  many 
if  not  all  of  them,  but  these  visits  had  been  merely 
incidental.  The  fact  that  Bishop  Edwards  was  elected 
president  of  the  Board  of  Missions  and  that  he  received 
a  higher  number  of  votes  for  the  office  of  bishop  than 
either  of  the  others  elected,  may  be  taken  as  an  indica- 
tion that  his  popularity  and  influence  in  the  church 
were  unabated. 

A  vote  was  taken  at  this  General  Conference  to  en- 
dorse the  law  of  1869  upon  the  question  of  secrecy. 


382  DAVID  EDWAKDS, 

To  this  law  Bishop  Edwards  offered  an  amendment  to 
the  effect  "  that  for  the  expulsion  of  members  violating 
special  laws  —  such  as  the  law  on  secret  societies  —  no 
vote  of  the  local  society  should  be  necessary/'  This 
amendment  was  carried,  the  vote  standing  seventy  to 
thirty-one  in  favor  of  it.  The  large  voteagainst  the 
amendment  shows  the  lack  of  unanimity  upon  the  ques- 
tion, and  the  fact  that  the  eastern  conferences  —  those 
of  Bishop  Edwards'  district  —  were  generally  under- 
stood to  be  less  in  sympathy  with  this  law  than  were 
the  others,  added  not  a  little  to  the  anxiety  of  Bishop 
Edwards  at  being  called  to  superintend  these  confer- 
ences. Something  of  his  feelings  upon  this  point  may 
be  gathered  from  some  remarks  made  by  him  at  the  close 
of  the  conference ;  said  he  :  ''  I  was  expecting  to  be  sent 
further  west  and  I  was  ready  to  go.  I  am  essentially  a 
western  man.  The  second  time  I  was  born  in  the  "West. 
Ohio  was  then  the  West.  I  have  served  the  general  con- 
ference twenty-eight  years,  much  longer  than  I  could 
have  had  reason  to  expect.  I  confess  that  in  all  this 
time  I  have  not  felt  the  weight  of  an  appointment  as  I 
feel  this  one.  I  know-that  some  of  the  delegates  think 
me  a  little  rigid,  but  I  tell  you,  I  intend  to  be  a  right 
clever,  good  man.  If  anything  bad  comes  into  my 
heart  I  do  not  intend  to  keep  it  there ;  I  intend  to  live 
so  that  I  can  look  up  to  heaven  and  say  I  did  the  best 
I  could." 

Bishop  Edwards  lived  to  make  three  annual  rounds 
upon  his  district,  but  during  the  fall  of  1875,  while 
upon  his  third  round,  his  health  began  to  fail.  He 
continued  his  labors,  however,  to  the  end  of  the  year, 
closing  his  ministerial  work  with  the  session  of  the 
West  Virginia  Conference  at  Parkersburg,  in  March, 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHEEN  IN  CHRIST.      383 

1876.  While  visiting  his  spring  conferences  he  vyas 
often  very  much  indisposed,  and  at  tunes  unable  to 
preach  or  preside.  The  nature  of  his  disease  is  not 
fully  known — it  was  probably  cancerous — but  his  suf- 
ferings were  very  great,  and  it  was  only  his  indomita- 
ble will,  sustained  by  a  zeal  for  the  cause  of  the  Mas- 
ter which  nothing  but  death  could  quench,  that  kept 
him  so  long  at  his  post.  From  the  West  Virginia  Con- 
ference he  went  back  to  his  home  in  Baltimore,  which 
place  he  reached  in  the  latter  part  of  March.  His  dis- 
ease had  made  fearful  inroads  upon  his  strength.  The 
power  of  labor  was  gone,  but  its  spirit  was  unyielding. 
That  his  whole  heart  was  turned  in  this  direction  is 
evidenced  by  the  following,  which  were  among  his  last 
utterances  :  "  If  it  might  be  the  Lord's  will,  I  would 
like  to  live  to  preach  awhile  yet.  I  would  preach  as 
never  before,  salvation  by  faith  alone.  Oh,  the  church 
has  so  much  machiner}'',  and  there  is  such  a  disposition 
to  interpose  so  many  things  between  inquiring  souls 
and  Christ.  Oh,  I  would  tell  them  salvation  is  by 
faith  in  Christ  alone.  I  see  this  now  as  never  before, 
and  I  would  like  to  live  and  preach  it."  But  the  rav- 
ages of  his  disease  were  rapid  and  unchecked.  His 
ministerial  labors  were  ended.  The  hand  of  death 
could  not  be  stayed.  He  died  at  his  home  in  Balti- 
more, June  6,  1876.  His  body  was  taken  to  Dayton, 
Ohio,  and  after  the  funeral  services  at  First  Church, 
was  buried  at  Woodland  cemeter}^  near  Dayton.  A 
monument  of  Scotch  granite,  purchased  with  funds 
contributed  by  friends  from  all  parts  of  the  church, 
was  erected  over  his  grave.  At  the  next  General  Con- 
ference on  the  first  Sabbath  morning,  Bishop  Gloss- 
brenner  delivered  a  memorial  sermon  upon  his  life  and 


384  DAVID  EDWARDS, 

character,  using  this  text :  "  For  he  was  a  good  man, 
and  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  faith."  Bishop  Gloss- 
brenner  had  been  the  colleague  of  Bishop  Edwards  dur- 
ing the  twenty-seven  years  of  the  latter's  bishopric,  their 
associations  had  been  intimate  and  pleasant,  and  it 
was  a  fitting  thing  that  the  life,  services  and  character 
of  this  great  and  good  man  should  be  portrayed  by  one 
who  had  labored  so  long  and  so  well  by  his  side. 

Bishop  Edwards  began  his  ministerial  work  in  the 
early  morning  of  life,  and  closed  his  labors  only  with 
its  setting  sun.  He  died  aged  sixty  years,  one  month 
and  one  day.  He  spent  forty  years  in  the  ministry, 
four  years  of  which  time  he  was  editor  of  the  Religious 
Telescope,  and  twenty-seven  years  bishop.  In  all  the 
years  of  his  ministry  "  he  was  never  charged  with  de- 
linquency or  intentional  fault."  However  much  good 
men  may  have  differed  with  him  in  their  views,  none 
doubted  the  purity  of  his  moti'Ves  or  the  uprightness  of 
his  character.  As  a  preacher,  he  had  few,  if  any,  su- 
periors in  the  church  in  which  he  labored.  The  subjects 
of  his  discourses  were  diversified,  much  more  so  than  is 
usual  with  a  minister  whose  work  extends  over  so  wide 
a  field.  From  a  diary  kept  by  himself,  we  learn  "  that 
in  seventy-one  sermons  preached  in  1859,  fiftj^-one  dif- 
ferent texts  were  used,  and  that  in  preaching  127  ser- 
mons in  1860,  sixty-t^'o  different  texts  were  used ;  of 
the  other  sermons  which  he  preached  during  these  two 
years,  the  texts  are  not  known."  It  is  true,  he  had  his 
favorite  themes  —  subjects  upon  which  he  preached 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  church; 
among  these  may  be  named  that  of  the  "  Holiness  of 
God's  House,"  "  Character  of  Jonah,"  "  The  Words  of 
Christ  upon  the  Cross."    "  Elijah,  the  Tishbite."     The 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      385 

last  theme  especially  was  one  upon  which  he  seemed  to 
delight  to  dwell.  Speaking  of  a  sermon  which  he 
preached  at  the  Virginia  Conference  in  18Y5,  upon  this 
favorite  theme,  Dr.  Davis  says:  "  He  had  not  spoken 
five  minutes  until  he  ascended  in  an  outburst  of  elo- 
quence and  emotion  which  melted  and  charmed  his 
audience.  Many  feared  that  he  had  begun  in  a  spirit 
and  scope  of  thought  from  which  he  would  have  to  de- 
scend, but  it  was  not  so.  Every  moment  seemed  to 
open  paths  of  richer  thought  and  more  striking  illus- 
tration. For  almost  an  hour  he  preached  without  any 
sign  of  weariness  or  of  losing  his  magic  hold  upon  the 
audience.  Toward  the  close  of  the  sermon  he  described 
the  ascension  of  Elijah.  He  pictured  the  walk  of  Eli- 
jah and  Ehsha.  Stopping  as  if  startled,  he  pointed  out 
the  chariot  of  fire  and  the  horses  of  fire.  The  audience 
could  see  the  chariot  passing  by  as  lie  showed  old  Eli- 
jah stepping  within  it  and  being  borne  heavenward. 
And  then  in  an  inimitable  way,  turning  the  attention 
upon  Elisha,  he  exclaimed  in  melting  tones,  '  Oh,  if  I 
had  been  Elisha  I  would  have  tried  to  get  on  too.'  No 
one  but  he  could  have  uttered  such  a  sentiment,  but 
as  uttered  by  him  it  was  the  climax  of  his  wonderful 
description," 

The  family  of  Bishop  Edwards  consisted  of  the  par- 
ents and  four  children  —  three  girls  and  one  boy  :  Aur- 
elia  A.,  born  at  liushville,  Ohio,  in  1842  ;  Electa  and 
Edward,  both  born  at  Circleville,  Ohio,  the  former  in 
1847,  and  the  latter  in  1849,  and  Mary,  born  near  To- 
ledo, Ohio,  in  1850.  Edward  died  at  Circleville,  aged 
six  weeks.  The  other  children  are  all  living  and  mar- 
ried. Aurelia,  the  oldest,  has  been  twice  married,  the 
first  time  to  a   Mr.  Bell,  the  second,  to  Rev.  A.  Wox, 


386  DAVID  EDWARDS, 

their  home  being  at  Westerville,  Ohio.  Electa  and 
Mary  are  living  at  Lexington,  111.,  the  husband  of  the 
former  being  Peter  Flesher,  of  the  latter,  A.  W.  Ma- 
han.  Daisy  Bell,  the  oldest  grandchild  of  Bishop  Ed- 
wards, graduated  at  Otterbein  Universit}^  in  1887,  and 
has  since  that  time  been  a  teacher  in  Sugar  Grove 
Academy,  Pennsylvania.  The  mother  of  the  bishop 
died  at  the  venerable  age  of  eighty-three,  at  Delaware, 
Ohio  ;  his  aged  widow  lives  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  patiently 
awaiting  the  summons  to  join  those  of  her  household 
who  have  already  entered  into  rest. 

In  the  home  circle  Bishop  Edwards  was  an  affec- 
tionate husband,  a  kind,  warm-hearted,  loving  father. 
His  widow  and  children  alike  bear  witness,  that  his  re- 
turns from  his  fields  of  labor  were  always  eagerly  an- 
ticipated. It  was  to  them  all  a  time  of  joy  and  sun- 
light. Like  his  Master,  he  loved  and  manifested  a  deep 
interest  in  little  children.  As  he  advanced  in  years  he 
seemed  to  grow  younger  in  heart,  more  sociable,  more 
charitable,  more  sympathetic. 

The  forty  years  of  Bishop  Edwards'  ministry  were 
the  last  four  decades  of  the  first  century  of  United 
Brethren  Church  history,  and  they  were  the  years  of  its 
organization  and  legislation.  In  these  years  its  mis- 
sionary societies,  Sunday-school  literature,  colleges  and 
theological  school  all  had  their  birth  and  passed  through 
the  earhest  and  most  critical  stages  of  their  development. 
At  the  time  he  entered  the  ministry  the  church  was  es- 
sentially German.  The  great  majority  of  the  ministers 
and  members  spoke  the  German  language.  Religious  ex- 
ercises were  conducted  mainly  in  German.  There  were 
but  eight  conferences,  with  a  membership  of  less,  prob- 
ably, than   twenty   thousand,    these   all  agreeing,  no 


SIXTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.      387 

doubt,  in  the  fundamentals  of  faith  and  in  methods  of 
work,  but  greatly  needing  the  aid  derived  from  the 
formulation  of  these  principles  and  methods.  In  this 
work  of  organization  no  one  took  a  more  important 
part  than  Bishop  Edwards.  He  has  left  the  impress  of 
his  originality  upon  its  church  laws  and  church  institu- 
tions from  first  to  last.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  no 
man  in  the  forty  conferences  of  the  church,  containing 
one  hundred  and  twenty -five  thousand  members,  was 
better  known,  more  influential,  or  more  highly  re- 
spected, and  no  one  has  left  a  gap  in  the  ranks  that  is 
harder  to  fill. 


REV.  LEWIS  DflVlS,  D.  D., 
SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


THE  father,  "William  Davis,  was  a  "Welshman,  whilfc 
the  mother  was  of  Scotch  descent.  They  lived 
in  Virginia  when  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  born, 
but  when  they  first  came  there  we  have  not  been  able 
to  learn.  They  Avere  poor  people,  who  were  compelled 
to  labor  for  their  daily  bread.  The  father  owned  a 
little  farm  from  the  products  of  which  the  family  was 
supported.  He  had  a  distaste  for  labor,  and  it  required 
no  great  inducement  to  keep  him  from  it.  He  was 
fond  of  sport,  liked  hunting,  fast  horses  and  the  like, 
and  whatever  he  might  not  have,  he  always  managed 
to  have  a  fast  horse.  He  was  not  an  educated  man, 
in  the  common  adaptation  of  the  term,  but  had  a  fair 
common  school  education,  and  in  this  respect  was  much 
superior  to  those  about  him.  He  was  not  a  Christian 
man  but  led  a  moral  life.  So  far  as  he  had  any  relig- 
ious creed  it  was  of  that  class  who  believe  that  men 
will  not  be  punished  hereafter,  but  all  of  their  affairs 
will  be  adjusted  in  this  life. 

"When  Lewis  was  converted  and  joined  church,  the 
father  seemed  to  be  very  well  pleased,  as  it  put  him  in 
the  midst  of  good  associates.  He  believed  the  best 
society  was  in  the  church,  and  if  it  did  nothing  more 
for  the  boy  it  would  surround  him  with  good  influences. 
The  father,  while  genial  and  social  in  his  nature  and 
fond  of  innocent  sport,  never  forgave  a  man  who  had 

388 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.  389 

willfully  wronged  him,  but  sought  in  some  way  to 
requite  him  for  what  he  had  done. 

The  father  was  a  large  man,  weighing  about  200 
pounds,  and  in  build  very  much  like  his  son,  Lewis. 
The  mother,  on  the  contrary,  was  small,  active  and 
very  industrious.  She  was  a  gentle,  loving  woman 
of  warm  heart  and  pure  life;  one  of  the  old  type  of 
"  new  lights  "  then  somewhat  prevalent  in  her  neigh- 
borhood. The  first  and  most  lasting  religious  impres- 
sions ever  made  upon  tlie  son  were  made  by  the  tender 
teaching  and  most  faithful  example  of  this  devoted 
Christian  mother.  There  were  no  family  prayers  in 
the  home,  so  the  boy  grew  up  without  this  help,  which 
has  given  inspiration  and  guidance  to  many  a  youth. 

In  this  household,  family  government  was  mild  but 
firm.  The  children  were  not  punished  but  they  were 
controlled.  Lewis  was  punished  by  his  fathef  once, 
but  he  obeyed.  The  command  of  his  father  carried 
authority  with  it,  and  he  Avas  master  of  the  situation. 
The  father  was  a  good  musician,  fond  of  the  violin  espe- 
cially, and  skillful  in  its  use.  Because  of  this  and  his 
fun-loving  disposition  he  was  wanted  at  all  places  of 
amusement.  He  thus  always  had  warm  friends  while 
a  man  of  his  positive  temperament  would  have  some  bit- 
ter enemies.  He  cared  but  little  about  the  political 
status  of  the  community.  He  did  not  belong  to  the 
ruling  class,  and  therefore  his  opinions  would  not  be 
asked.  He  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812.  He 
lived  in  the  country,  and  his  children  grew  up  in  con- 
tact with  nature.  The  people  about  him  were  simple 
in  their  habits  and  uneducated;  very  few  of  them  held 
slaves,  but  most  of  them  were  of  the  poorer  class  like 
himself,  and  compelled  to  labor.     Their   nearest  post- 


390  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

office  was  Newcastle,  Craig  county,  Ya.,  then  a 
part  of  Botetourt  county. 

To  these  parents  were  born  six  children,  named  re- 
spectively Sarah,  Margaret,  Anna,  Lewis,  EHzabeth  and 
James.  These  are  all  living  except  Sarah.  They  were 
all  married  and  had  homes  of  their  own.  Most  of  them 
are  still  living  in  old  Virginia.  Lewis  was  born  on 
the  14th  day  of  February,  1814.  At  a  very  earlj^  age 
he  worked  on  the  farm  with  the  older  members  of  the 
family.  This  was  not  always  to  his  liking,  but  was  a 
necessity.  The  wants  of  the  family  absolutely  re- 
quired it.  With  the  indisposition  on  the  part  of  the 
father  to  work,  it  required  the  efforts  of  all  the  others 
to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door.  The  father,  with  his 
manner  of  life,  could  not  accumulate  much.  An  uncle 
of  the  mother,  who  lived  near,  would  at  times  aid  them 
when  necessary.  While  the  father  was  careless  in  some 
respects,  he  was  rigid  in  others.  The  boy  was  express- 
ly taught  that  he  must  always  speak  the  truth.  This 
he  soon  learned  was  the  surest  way  to  avoid  punishment 
for  wrong  doing. 

When  he  began  to  grow  up,  he  thought  he  would 
like  to  learn  a  trade.  Some  blacksmiths  had  been 
boarding  in  his  father's  family,  and  Lewis,  becoming 
acquainted  with  them,  thought  it  would  be  a  very 
nice  thing  to  be  a  blacksmith.  He  finally  went  to 
Newcastle  to  learn,  as  he  supposed,  this  trade.  Here 
he  found  a  man  in  good  financial  circumstances  who 
was  making  edge  tools.  He  proved  to  be  a  very  kind 
man  to  him,  and  gave  him  every  opportunity  for  im- 
provement. He  gave  him  books  to  read  and  talked 
school  to  him.  By  his  prudent  and  genial  conversation 
with  him,  he  gave  him  a  broader  conception  of  educa- 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  391 

tion  than  he  had  ever  had  before,  and  opened  up  to 
him  a  picture  of  a  richer,  broader  life  than  the  one  he 
was  preparing  for  himself.  He  saw  in  the  boy  indica- 
tions of  talent  which  others  had  not  seen,  or,  if  they 
had  seen,  had  not  mentioned  it,  and  predicted  that  he 
would  never  follow  the  trade  of  a  blacksmith,  but  was 
destined  for  a  wider  field  of  usefulness  than  this  would 
give  him.  This  was  a  Christian  man,  who  proved  of 
great  help  to  the  boy.  He  looked  after  his  morals, 
became  a  companion  to  him,  sought  to  widen  and 
deepen  his  views,  and  in  every  way  made  life  a  more 
desirable  thing  to  him.  Above  all,  this  house  was  a 
house  of  prayer,  the  best  he  was  ever  in,  and  its  influ- 
ence was  healthful  and  lasting. 

He  was  about  eighteen  years  old  when  he  came  to 
this  home,  and  he  remained  there  about  three  years. 
During  all  this  time  he  was  pleasantly  located  and  could 
not  have  been  better  cared  for,  even  at  his  father's 
home.  During  this  time  he  was  converted.  Mr. 
Jacob  Hammond,  the  man  with  whom  he  was  living, 
was  a  Methodist  and  ministers  often  came  to  his  house. 
A  camp  meeting  was  held  in  this  neighborhood  by 
them.  "While  with  this  man  he  attended  an  academy 
for  a  short  time  at  Newcastle,  and  had  a  start  in  edu- 
cation. He  always  had  a  warm  feeling  for  these  peo- 
ple, who  were  in  the  place  of  parents  to  him.  When 
he  was  president  of  Otterbein  University  he  returned 
to  his  old  home  and  went  to  visit  them.  He  had  a 
pleasant  meeting  with  the  old  man,  and  preached  for  him 
while  there.  His  old  neighbors  and  acquaintances  came 
out  to  hear  him  and  treated  him  very  kindly. 

To  this  home  often  came  a  Methodist  clergyman, 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Cullom  by  name,  who  took  a  great  in- 


392 


LEWIS  DAVIS, 


terest  in  the  boy,  and  who,  perhaps  more  than  any  one 
person,  helped  him  to  what  he  is  pleased  to  call  his 
"  intellectual  awakening."  The  preacher  saw  in  the 
boy,  or  thought  he  saw,  some  good  traits,  and  was 
anxious  he  should  make  the  most  of  them.  Lewis  was 
a  little  careless  and  had  no  very  strong  inclinations  to- 
ward a  higher  education.  The  preacher  talked  and 
urged  him  and  urged  his  mother,  but  means  were  lim- 
ited, and  this  was  a  sufficient  excuse  for  the  boy  to 
postpone  tlie  matter. 

These  people  with  whom  he  lived  believed  that  some 
day  he  woukl  be  something  more  than  a  blacksmith. 
Neighbors  thought  and  talked  the  same  way.  Minis- 
ters who  came  and  visited  in  the  family  talked  about 
education  and  of  the  duty  of  every  one  to  try  to  be 
somebody.  Rev.  Mr.  Cullom,  of  whom  we  have  spoken 
above,  agreed  to  give  him  a  book  on  the  Evidences  of 
Christianity  if  he  would  commit  it  to  memory. 
He  agreed  to  do  so.  He  took  it  with  him 
to  the  shop,  kept  it  open  before  him,  read 
a  few  lines,  and  then  thought  it  over  and  thus 
memorized  it  while  at  his  work.  The  result  was  he 
committed  to  memory  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  or 
more  pages  which  the  book  contained,  and  repeated  the 
same  to  the  preacher,  who  was  very  proud  of  what  he 
had  done,  and  who  gave  him  the  book.  Other 
preachers,  hearing  of  this,  loaned  him  books  to  read 
from  time  to  time,  and  then  the  world  began  to  open 
up  before  him. 

In  the  neighborhood  where  he  now  resided  a  de- 
bating club  was  organized  and  he  became  a  member  of 
it.  He  grew  fond  of  it,  took  pains  to  prepare  himself 
as  best  he  could,  and  began,  after  a  time,  to  have  some 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  393 

confidence  in  his  ability  as  a  debater.  Here  he  laid 
the  foundation  of  that  skill  which  afterward  served  so 
good  a  purpose  when  he  came  into  church  conflicts, 
namely,  the  skill  to  think  before  an  audience.  He  gave 
considerable  attention  to  this  kind  of  work,  and  was 
much  complimented  by  his  neighbors  because  of  what 
seemed  to  them  his  unusual  ability.  The  ministers  and 
others  who  came  to  the  house  where  he  resided  kept 
suggesting  he  should  be  educated.  His  mother  sym- 
pathized with  this  idea  and  with  him,  and  was  anxious 
to  help  him,  but  the  family  resources  were  very  Umited. 
By  this  time  he  had  secured  for  himself  a  horse,  which 
he  was  urged  to  sell  and  take  the  proceeds  with  which 
to  educate  himself.  His  mother,  in  the  meantime,  had 
received  $50  from  the  uncle  before  named,  and  she  con- 
sented to  give  him  this  if  he  would  go  to  school. 

He  left  home  and  went  to  Newcastle,  to  an  acad- 
emy, and  began  what  was  to  him  his  higher  education. 
Here  he  made  commendable  progress  and  by  habits  of 
economy  was  able  to  continue  in  school  about  eighteen 
months.  He  was  quite  popular  and  became  very  fond 
of  the  society  of  young  ladies.  The  result  was  he  soon 
became  interested  in  a  special  young  lady  and  like 
other  young  men  similarly  circumstanced,  he  felt  sure 
he  could  not  live  without  her.  Rev.  Mr.  Cullom,  who 
had  already  taken  so  much  interest  in  him,  saw  that 
this  would  hinder  his  success  and  interfere  with  his 
further  education.  On  one  of  his  visits  about  this  time 
he  came  to  the  house,  and  after  learning  of  the  other 
members  of  the  family  he  inquired  where  "  Lute  "  was, 
and  learned  that  he  had  just  retired.  He  knew  where 
he  slept  and  at  once  traveled  upstairs,  and  kneeling  by 
the  bed-side  began  talking  with  the  boy,  who  seemed 


394  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

somewhat  indifferent.  Finally  the  man,  intent  on  sav- 
ing him  for  some  good  pm'pose,  broke  out  in  prayer  to 
God  that  he  would  convert  this  boy  and  send  him  to 
school  and  prepare  him  for  life.  The  man  plead  with 
such  earnestness  that  the  boy  was  stirred  to  the  very 
depths  and  promised  that  if  God  spared  him  he  would 
go  to  school.  In  public  addresses  and  in  private  con- 
versation Dr.  Davis  frequently  asserts  that  this  was  his 
first  real  awakening  and  that  whatever  he  has  done 
for  the  educational  work  is  due  in  the  main  to  the  fer- 
vent appeals  and  persistent  energy  of  this  devoted 
man.  How  much  brain  power  would  be  saved  to  the 
world  and  the  church,  if  other  clergymen  had  the  good 
sense  and  earnestness  of  this  man,  and  would  seek  out 
those  of  good  ability  who  are  drifting  away,  simply  be- 
cause the}^  need  some  friendly  hand  to  guide  them  into 
the  desired  haven. 

The  following  year  he  traveled  about  considerable 
without  any  definite  purpose.  He  was  now  about 
twenty-three  years  of  age.  When  funds  were  low  he 
would  stop  and  work  at  his  trade.  This  travel  widened 
his  notions  of  men  and  things  and  gave  him  more 
confidence  in  himself.  Life  meant  more  to  him  than  it 
had  before.  Wherever  he  went  he  sought  out  the  best 
people  in  the  place  and  sought  to  surround  himself  with 
the  most  helpful  associations. 

About  this  time  some  young  men  in  his  section  pro- 
posed to  come  West  and  he  agreed  to  come  with  them. 
There  were  three  of  them  who  left  and  came  by  way 
of  Big  Cole  river,  in  West  Virginia  and  stopped  for  a 
time  at  the  salt  works  on  Cole  river.  He  found  some 
people  here  who  knew  his  father,  and  he  visited  with 
them  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Kanawha  salt  works. 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  395 

After  having  remained  the  appointed  time  he  turned 
his  face  homeward  again.  On  his  way  he  found  a  fam- 
ily named  Hurless,  who  knew  his  father's  family,  and 
with  them  he  tarried  for  the  night.  He  was  disgusted 
with  the  country  and  so  stated  to  Hurless.  The  latter, 
who  was  anxious  to  have  him  remain,  asked  him  if  he 
could  not  teach  school.  Davis  reported  what  he  had 
been  doing  at  school,  and  thought  he  could  teach  gram- 
mar, arithmetic,  reading,  geography  and  some  other 
branches.  It  was  agreed  to  get  him  the  school  if  he 
would  remain.  The  school  was  secured  and  taught  by 
the  young  man.  The  family  with  whom  he  tarried 
proved  to  be  members  of  the  United  Brethren  Church. 
Davis  professed  Christianity,  but  had  not  connected 
himself  with  any  church,  mainly  because  the  churches 
about  him  were  complicated  with  things  which  he  did 
not  approve.  He  attended  Sunday  school  here  and  in 
course  of  time  became  a  teacher.  Hitherto  he  had 
knovvn  little  or  nothing  of  the  United  Brethren  Church. 
"While  here  he  met  Rev.  William  Davis,  who  had  come 
to  preach  in  this  section  as  a  kind  of  home  missionary. 
He  was  anxious  to  have  so  promising  a  young  man  as 
this  join  his  church.  At  his  old  home  his  father  and 
mother  had  impressed  him  with  the  fac^>  that  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  was  complicated  with  secrecy 
and  slavery,  neither  of  which  could  he  approve.  Will- 
iam Davis  finally  gave  the  young  man  the  United 
Brethren  discipline  to  read,  which  he  did  and  was  very 
much  impressed  with  it.  It  was  just  the  thing  he  had 
been  waiting  to  find.  It  seemed  to  him,  to  use  his  own 
language,  ''that  God  had  made  him  for  these  senti- 
ments and  this  discipline."  Simple,  unostentatious  and 
reformatory,  all  attracted  him.     Here  he  could  have 


396  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

all  the  good  things  which  he  had  found  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  without  the  evil.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  in  these  later  years  he  should  seem  unusu- 
ally tenacious  of  these  early  principles  of  the  church, 
and  should  manifest  some  sorrow  as  the  church  seemed 
to  be  letting  go  of  them  ?  Other  churches  would  have 
been  glad  to  have  had  him — were  anxious  to  have  him. 
They  were  wealthy  and  popular  and  could  have  given 
him  a  place  very  early  in  his  history,  but  the  things 
which  were  dear  to  him  they  did  not  urge.  In  this  ht- 
tle  church,  a  mere  handful  in  numbers,  with  Httle  in- 
fluence, with  an  uneducated  ministry,  with  little  hope 
of  making  much  of  a  show  in  the  world's  redemption, 
but  because  they  commend  the  things  which  are  dear 
to  him,  he  casts  in  his  lot  with  them,  content  to  suffer 
with  them  and  for  them  if  the  things  which  his  heart 
holds  dear  can  be  made  to  triumph.  After  these  years 
of  struggle  and  conflict  it  will  not  be  pleasant  to  see 
the  church  yield  these  time-honored  views,  especially 
if  this  should  be  done,  not  because  they  have  been 
proven  false,  but,  as  some  suppose,  the  more  rapidly  to 
increase  her  membership. 

During  the  time  that  he  was  teaching  he  was  urged 
by  men  who  knew  something  of  his  ability,  and  who 
thought  that  he  was  intended  for  the  ministry,  to 
preach.  His  experience  before  the  debating  club  had 
in  part  prepared  him  for  this.  As  yet  he  had  no  well 
defined  purpose  of  being  a  preacher,  but  at  times  he 
would  talk  some.  Before  leaving  home  he  had  opened 
his  heart  to  his  mother,  and  she  encouraged  him  if  a 
call  came  to  him  to  heed  the  call.  He  taught  his  three 
months  of  school  and  then  six  months  more. 


SEVENTEENTH   BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  397 

During  1838  he  was  licensed,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1839  he  joined  the  Scioto  Conference  at  Pleasant  Run. 
He  traveled  as  an  itinerant  for  eight  years,  one  of  which 
was  spent  in  the  eldership. 

During  all  this  time  his  thirst  for  knowledge  in- 
creased. He  was  poor  in  books.  He  would  buy  such 
books  as  he  needed  and  as  his  limited  means  would  al- 
low, and  when  these  had  been  well  studied,  would  ex- 
change them  for  others.  He  could  not,  in  this  way, 
accumulate  much  of  a  library.  He  did  not  simply  read, 
he  studied  his  books,  a  very  unusual  thing  with  many 
of  the  preachers  of  that  day.  fie  read  Watson's  Insti- 
tutes through  in  six  weeks  in  order  to  know  what 
was  .in  them.  He  then  went  to  work  to  carefully  study 
them,  and  made  notes  of  the  portions  that  interested 
him  most,  in  order  to  impress  them  on  his  memory. 
His  association  with  Bishop  Edwards  was  very  helpful 
to  him  along  this  line.  Davis  would  take  note  of  the 
pages  he  read  and  their  contents,  and  then  when  he  met 
Edwards,  the  two  men  would  compare  views  and  thus 
mutually  help  and  inspire  each  other.  It  was  a  grand 
sight  to  see  these  two  men  with  no  surroundings  to 
inspire  them,  but  rather  the  reverse,  with  limited  means 
and  more  limited  supply  of  books,  from  pure  love  of 
knowledge  thus  improving  their  leisure  moments,  and 
urging  each  other  to  get  higher  attainments  in  knowl- 
edge. Would  that  the  young  clergy  of  to-day,  with 
many  more  advantages,  would  imitate  such  devotion. 

The  following  incident  shows  hoAv  fixed  had  become 
this  habit  of  study  with  him.  One  time,  when  on  his 
circuit,  he  was  visiting  a  family  by  the  name  of  Chap- 
man. When  he  had  talked  all  he  wished  to  say  to  him 
about  the  common  affairs  of  the  family  and  the  church, 


398  LEWIS  DAVIS, 


he  went  to  one  side  of  the  room,  took  out  his  Bi'ble  and 
began  to  read  and  make  notes  as  usuaL  Soon  Mr. 
Chapman  came  to  talk  with  him  again.  It  was  not 
long  before  Davis  said  to  him^  with  a  little  earnestness 
in  his  tones,  "  Mr.  Chapman,  I  can't  stand  this." 
"  Stand  what,  Mr.  Dg^vis  ?  "  was  the  courteous  reply. 
Mr.  Davis  saw  that  he  had  thoughtlessly  been  rude  to 
the  man.  He  then  took  a  little  time,  and  told  him  of 
his  limited  education,  the  poor  facilities  he  had  had, 
and  the  duty  laid  upon  him  to  study  in  order  to  meet 
the  obligations  put  upon  him.  The  man  in  reply  said 
he  did  not  understand  this.  When  other  preachers 
came  they  spent  all  their  time  in  talking  and  he  sup- 
posed the  new  preacher  did  the  same.  The  wife  vras 
admonished  by  the  husband  as  to  the  situation,  and 
after  that  he  was  allowed  to  study  when  he  chose, 
without  being  subjected  to  any  interruptions. 

At  another  time,  when  stopping  with  a  Mr.  Wood, 
who  was  a  good  man  but  a  little  talkative,  when  Mr. 
Davis,  as  was  his  practice,  moved  off  to  one  side  of  the 
room  to  do  some  studying,  he  said  to  him,  "Brother 
Davis,  I  don't  want  that  work  done.  While  you  are 
here  I  want  you  to  talk  all  the  time.  You  are  our 
preacher,  and  I  pay  you  for  talking."  Davis  said  to 
him,  "  Brother  Wood,  I  can't  talk  all  the  time,  and 
if  you  won't  allow  me  to  study  some  while  in  your 
house  1  must  go  elsewhere,  where  I  can  stud3\"  The 
result  was  the  men  soon  understood  each  other,  Davis 
studied  as  he  wished  thereafter,  and  while  on  that  cir- 
cuit never  had  a  warmer  friend  than  Mr.  Wood. 

This  habit  of  study  was  kept  up  during  all  his  work 
as  a  traveling  minister.  It  was  known  throughout  the 
conference  by  the   other  members.     When  the  time 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  399 

came  for  a  move  along  the  educational  line,  all  eyes 
naturally  turned  to  this  man  as  the  pioneer  who  should 
blaze  the  way.  Some  complaints  were  made  at  times 
by  some  of  the  members  that  he  did  not  talk  enough, 
but  the  more  discerning  encouraged  his  habits  of  appli- 
cation. Among  those  who  were  most  helpful  to  him 
was  David  Edwards,  who  was  himself  a  lover  of  books 
and  encouraged  Davis  so  to  be. 

As  he  saw  the  need  of  education  for  himself,  so  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  see  its  great  value  to  the  church. 
If  the  church  would  do  the  work  committed  to  her,  she 
must  combine  zeal  with  intelligence.  As  some  one  has 
said,  "  The  church  that  thrives  is  the  church  that 
makes  the  college  thrive."  Others  had  felt  a  want  of 
this  kind,  but  to  Davis  the  building  of  a  college  was  a 
necessity.  The  feeling  in  favor  of  a  college  culminated 
in  the  action  taken  by  the  General  Conference  in  1845. 
Davis  urged  the  matter  as  best  he  could.  There  was  no 
serious  opposition  to  what  the  conference  did.  It 
^^ Resolved,  1st,  That  proper  means  be  adopted  to  estab- 
lish an  institution  of  learning;  2d,  that  it  be  recom- 
mended to  the  attention  of  the  Annual  Conferences, 
avoiding,  however,  irredeemable  debts."  The  action 
seemed  to  contemplate  the  building  up  of  a  single  insti- 
tution by  the  whole  church,  which  at  this  stage  of  our 
development  might  have  been  the  wisest  thing  to  do. 
The  church  was  not  a  unit  on  the  matter.  Even  the 
ministers,  and  some  of  them  in  high  official  posi- 
tion, saw  serious  injury  to  the  church.  Those  who 
favored  a  college  had  to  make  their  case  and  push 
their  project,  for  every  step  of  ground  was  hotly  con- 
tested. 

A  few  years  before  this  the  Methodists  had  pro- 
jected a  number  of  institutions  of  learning.     One  of 


400  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

these,  a  preparatory  institution,  was  located  at  Wester- 
ville,  about  twelve  miles  north  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  and 
was  called  "  Biendon  Young  Men's  Seminary.'"  When 
arrangements  were  made  for  opening  a  college  at  Del- 
aware, the  interest  was  gradually  drawn  away  from 
Westerville,  and,  after  a  fruitless  effort  to  live,  the 
citizens  decided  the  best  thing  to  be  done  w^as  to  sell 
it  to  some  other  denomination  which  might  be  able  to 
o-ive  them  a  local  school.  The  Scioto  Conference  con- 
vened  in  Pickawaj'^  county,  Ohio,  October  26, 1846,  and 
a  delegation  from  "Westerville,  representing  its  citizens, 
appeared,  and  ofifered  to  turn  over  the  seminary  to  the 
conference  if  it  would  pay  a  debt  of  $1,300  against  it. 
As  the  publishing  interests  of  the  church  Avere  in  the 
bounds  of  this  conference,  the  men  of  the  church  natur- 
ally looked  to  Scioto  to  take  the  lead  in  this  matter. 
Rev.  William  Davis  at  this  time  was  opening  a  mis- 
sion in  Westerville,  and  no  doubt  communicated  with 
the  citizens  concerning  the  feeling  in  the  conference. 
This  proposition  to  pay  the  debt  and  take  the  property, 
which  consisted  of  four  acres  and  two  buildings,  seemed 
to  the  conference  as  a  great  bargain.  A  committee  of 
three  persons,  William  Hanby,  Jonathan  Dresbach  and 
Lewis  Davis,  were  appointed  to  visit,  examine  and  re- 
port. The  result  was,  the  property  was  purchased. 
These  three  men  were  elected  trustees,  and  the}^  pro- 
ceeded to  invite  the  other  conferences  to  cooperate 
w^ith  them.  They  elected  Lewis  Davis  as  a  traveling 
agent  to  receive  funds  to  pay  the  debt  and  to  enlist  the 
cooperation  of  the  other  conferences.  They  had 
selected  a  prudent  man,  tlioroughly  in  sympathy  with 
the  enterprise,  of  indomitable  will,  and  competent  to 
put  his  case.  TTnl  n  different  man  been  chosen  it  is 
not  at  all  likely  the  enterprise  would  have  succeeded. 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.  401 

In  December,  1886,  the  graduates  of  Otterbein 
University,  with  members  of  the  faculty  and  other 
friends  had  a  reunion  at  the  home  of  Dr.  Davis,  in 
Dayton.  He  was  asked  to  give  some  "  reminiscences  " 
of  his  early  experiences  in  connection  with  the  college, 
which  he  did  in  the  following  manner : 

"  I  have  sometimes  feared  lest  my  life  might  in 
some  sense  be  considered  a  failure.  But  when  I  see 
this  o-atherino-,  and  look  at  the  fruits  of  this  toil,  I  am 
greatly  cheered.  There  are  none  here  w4io  were  with 
me  in  the  beginning  or  who  know  the  day  when  I  went 
to  this  work.  Those  that  were  with  me  have  gone 
home.  There  hangs  the  last  catalogue  issued  by  Otter- 
bein University,  and  there  beside  it  hangs  the  first 
catalogue.  (These  were  hanging  to  the  chandelier  in 
the  parlor.)  Between  them  hangs  a  tale  of  forty  years' 
history.  More  than  forty  years  ago,  in  1845,  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  opened  the  way  for  collegiate  education 
in  our  church.  It  was  only  an  enabling  act.  Then  I 
rubbed  m}'  hands  and  said,  '  That  is  a  good  thing.' 
We  were  young  and  enthusiastic  and  courageous  and 
ignorant  —  ignoraBt  of  much  that  was  to  be  done  in  this 
work.  I  met  with  Bro.  Jonathan  Dresbach,  and  we 
talked  of  this  matter  and  what  the  General  Conference 
had  done.  We  talked  with  others.  We  heard  of  Blen- 
don  Seminary,  at  Westerville,  with  four  acres  of  ground 
and  some  buildings.  It  was  in  debt  and  could  be 
bought  for  $1,300.  We  visited  it  and  looked  the 
grounds  all  over.  We  concluded  it  was  good  and 
cheap,  and  so  reported  to  Scioto  Conference,  just  forty 
years  ago  last  fail.  They  bought  it,  with  Jonathan 
Dresbach,  Wm.  Hanby,  and  L.  Davis,  trustees.  Then 
we  began  to  think  of  a  name.     Otterbein  University 


402  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

of  Ohio  was  suggested.  "We  thought  of  college,  "We 
did  not  just  know  the  difference  between  a  college  and 
university.  "We  thought  somehow  that  a  university 
meant  more  than  a  college.  So  we  took  it  all  in  and 
called  it  Otterbein  University.  The  brethren  cast  their 
eye  on  me.  They  wanted  me  to  be  a  tool  or  an  arm 
for  them  to  work  with,  I  was  then  a  young  presiding 
elder  and  was  just  beginning  to  feel  the  sweets  of 
dignity,  but  I  went  into  the  work.  That  is  '  reminis- 
cence.' 

"  I  wrote  a  subscription,  the  first  of  the  church,  for 
this  educational  work.  I  subscribed  and  paid  the  first 
dollar  for  higher  education  in  this  church.  It  was  not 
much,  but  it  was  the  first.  Otterbein  was  dead.  For 
thirty -four  years  he  had  been  gone  to  the  church  above. 
Jle  was  a  great  and  good  man.  The  church  had  always 
revered  him.  "We  revere  him  more  than  ever  before, 
now  as  the  fruits  of  his  work  appear.  Great  as  he  was, 
and  great  as  the  work  he  did  for  the  church  and  the 
world,  he  did  nothing  for  higher  education,  neither  did 
his  immediate  associates.  But  we  went  into  it — went 
into  it  blindl}'- — and  wrote  a  subscription  and  sub- 
scribed to  it.  Shall  I  tell  you  the  amount  I  subscribed  ? 
Fifteen  dollars.  No  more,  no  less.  It  was  little.  I  was 
poor  then,  very  poor — poorer  than  I  am  now — and  did 
not  understand  the  wants  of  the  work  as  now.  I  went 
to  a  man — whose  name  I  could  give,  and  one  known 
all  over  the  church — for  his  subscription.  I  wanted 
him  to  give  a  good  amount.  I  pleaded  at  least  that  he 
would  give  as  much  as  I  had  done.  He  said,  '  You 
put  your  name  there  to  show  yourself.'  I  began  to 
press  him  some,  but  I  only  got  $10.00.  I  went  to 
another  man,  and  he  said  he  would  give  $10.00  if  I 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  403 

would  take  it  in  books.  I  accepted  the  offer — took  the 
books  and  paid  the  money.  I  liave  some  of  the  books 
yet.  Brother  Hanby  gave  me  $25.00  —  grand,  good 
man!  I  went  to  Jonathan  Dresbach.  lie  was  worth 
1100,000.  He  gave  me  $50.00.  From  another  I  got 
$25.00  and  from  another  $50.00  ;  and  so  the  work 
began.  Now  I  had  the  cream.  I  must  start  out 
elsewhere ;  so  I  started  for  Sandusky  Conference 
away  on  the  Maumee.  I  liad  a  horse  and  overshoes 
and  a  good  overcoat,  and  so  I  started  on  horse- 
back. The  first  night  I  stayed  with  a  hickory  United 
Brethren.  The  next  day  I  started  out  in  the  snow.  •! 
had  to  cross  A  him  creek,  I  went  along  and  along  and 
along,  and  saw  nobody  of  whom  I  could  inquire.  The 
snow  had  covered  the  road,  so  that  there  were  no 
tracks.  I  came  to  a  ford.  I  could  see  no  one  of  whom 
to  inquire  about  it.  I  started  down  the  bank.  The 
horse  went  in  gently  for  awhile.  Then  it  plunged  and 
plunged.  I  climbed  up  on  the  horse's  back.  The 
horse  plunged  and  swam  across,  and  I  got  out,  but  was 
wet,  and  soon  stopped  over  night  with  a  stranger 
Then  I  went  on  by  Sandusky,  and  day  by  day  through 
the  mud,  through  the  black  swamp — mud^mud — 
mud — mud,  till  I  could  not  tell  the  color  of  my  horse. 
I  got  to  conference  a  little  late.  I  had  heard  that  the 
bishop  would  antagonize  the  work.  Bishop  Russel  was 
then  the  presiding  bishop.  He  was  a  strong  man- 
strong  in  intellect,  with  a  mighty  brain  well  stored,  and 
strong  in  prejudices.  I  met  him  tremblingly.  'I 
have  made  up  my  mind  to  oppose  this,'  he  said. 
I  told  him  I  had  come  to  represent  the  work. 
•'  You  be  still,  you  be  still,'  was  his  reply.  I 
told   him   I  could    not    be    still,    and    if  they  gave 


404  LEWIS    DAVIS, 

me  an  advisory  seat  I  would  advocate  it.  I  got 
a  chance,  but  he  managed  to  rule  me  out  of  order.  I 
said  something,  but  I  was  always  too  early  or  I  was 
too  late,  or  something  was  wrong,  so  that  he  ruled  me 
out  of  order.  He  did  oppose  it  in  a  characteristic 
speech  of  half  an  hour,  and  then  put  the  question. 
But  they  voted  for  the  college,  but  by  a  small  majority. 
It  was  a  victory,  but  a  dear  one.  I  felt  that  a  few 
more  such  victories  would  defeat  me.  Then  I  went 
to  Muskingum  Conference.  There  I  met  Bishop  Rus- 
sel  again.  'You  are  here?'  'Yes,  I  am  here.' 
'  Well,  you  be  still.'  I  asked  him  to  be  still.  I  told 
him  I  did  not  think  it  his  business,  as  a  bishop,  to  op- 
pose this  work.  He  was  to  preside,  and  let  the  (Confer- 
ence act.  I  thought  I  understood  something  of  parlia- 
mentary custom.  He  replied,  '  You  be  still.'  He 
opposed  it  in  the  conference  vehemently.  He  said  if 
this  thing  carried  something  awful  would  happen  to 
the  church.  He  did  not  point  out  what  it  would  be, 
but  vehemently  he  asserted  something  awful  would 
happen  to  the  church.  The  conference  did  not  vote 
it  that  year,  but  it  did  the  next  year.  Bishop  Russel 
was  atypical  man.  He  was  a  gentleman — grand,  noble, 
manly,  intelligent.  He  was  a  representative  of  the 
church  of  that  time  as  to  the  educational  work.  The 
fathers  of  the  church  were  well  represented  in  him. 
They  were  not  opposed  to  education,  but  the}^  did  not 
believe  it  the  business  of  the  church  to  educate.  This  sen- 
timent I  met  through  the  entire  church.  Other  churches 
held  the  same  view  largely.  They  were  getting  rid 
of  it  faster  than  we  were.  Perhaps  Otterbein  held  it. 
Boehm,  Newcomer  and  Geeting  held  it.  I  know 
Asbury  held  it.     This  we  had  to  combat. 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  405 

"  But  we  began  the  work.  There  is  the  first  cata- 
logue. In  1847  we  opened  the  school.  We  had  one 
full  teacher,  and  others  who  helped.  I  taught  some. 
Professor  Griffith  was  our  chief  teacher.  We  strue- 
gled  ten  years  before  we  could  graduate  any  one.  We 
had  not  the  faculty  nor  the  requirements  to  entitle  us 
to  confer  any  degrees.  After  ten  years'  work  we  grad- 
uated two  ladies —  one  yet  living  and  one  dead.  When 
I  left  the  college,  fifteen  years  ago,  there  had  been 
graduated  one  hundred  and  forty-four. 

"  I  fear  I  have  detained  you  too  long.  God  bless  you 
all.  If  there  is  anything  of  which  I  am  proud  it  is  of 
this  work.  As  Cotton  Mather  said  of  that  grand  in- 
stitution, Harvard,  'It  is  the  best  thing  the  fathers  of 
the  country  thought  of.'  So  I  would  sa}',  the  best 
thing  our  church  ever  thought  of  is  the  Christian  col- 
lege.    God  bless  it  and  bless  you  all." 

To  those  who  will  read  between  the  lines  there  will 
appear  lessons  of  toil,  of  patient  endurance,  of  dis- 
couragement, of  suffering  and  of  conflict  which  the 
doctor  delicately  passed  over  in  his  address.  It  was  a 
great  undertaking,  and  grandly  did  he  meet  it.  At  his 
own  fireside  one  time  he  reported  that  he  had  taken  a 
note  from  a  contributor  for  one  dollar,  payable  in  four 
quarterly  installments.  Another,  a  bishop,  if  we  mis- 
take not,  at  least  one  in  authority,  was  solicited  for  a 
donation.  He  answered,  "  How  much  do  you  want. 
Brother  Davis,  from  me  ?"  Davis  answered,  "  I  want 
fifteen  dollars.  "  With  a  look  of  astonishment  the  good 
brother  replied,  "  Why,  Brother  Davis,  what  in  the 
world  do  you  intend  to  do  with  so  much  money?'  If 
this  is  the  conception  the  dignitaries  had  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  work,  what  must  have  been  the  indiffer- 
ence, not  to  say  ignorance,  of  the  masses  ? 


406  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

In  the  Telescope  of  July  18,  1866,  there  will  be 
found  an  editorial  which  gave  a  good  epitome  of  the 
situation  at  the  time  Mr.  Davis  labored  and  suffered. 
"  The  friends  of  these  early  schools  were  compelled  to 
fight  their  way  at  every  step.  The  general  sentiment 
to  all  appearances  was  irreconcilably  opposed  to  any 
advance  in  this  direction.  A  large  majority  of  the 
ministers  shared  this  opposition.  It  was  not  an  un- 
usual thing  for  some  of  them  in  their  pulpits  to  thank 
God  they  had  never  rubbed  their  backs  against  college 
walls.  "We  distinctly  recollect  with  what  admiration 
we  used  to  contemplate  these  exhibitions  of  pluck  when 
a  boy. 

"It  is  but  a  span  back  to  the  time  when  not  a  single 
dollar  had  ever  heen  contributed  hy  any  of  our  members 
for  an  educational  object,  and  when  no  contributions 
of  this  kind  had  ever  been  solicited.  Very  many  will 
recollect  what  small  sums  were  at  first  asked  when 
this  work  was  commenced,  and  how  these  insignificant 
sums  were  even  then  sometimes  thought  to  be  out  of 
all  propriety.  We  remember  that  not  many  years 
since,  a  college  agent  once,  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  trustees  of  one  of  our  schools,  approached  Bishop 
Kumler,  and  very  timidly  expressed  the  hope  that  he 
would  donate  ^ye  dollars  to  the  college  before  leaving 
the  place.  The  bishop  seemed  to  have  comprehended 
the  matter  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  agent,  and, 
looking  him  in  the  face,  replied  that  if  the  agent 
would  give  him  five  dollars  he  would  kick  the  whole 
thing  down  into  Alu7n  Creek.  Before  leaving  he  had 
subscribed  many  times  the  amount  solicited." 

There  was  a  man  named  John  Eckert,  w^ho  had 
been  in  jail  in  Germany  for  preaching  experimental 
religion.     He  was  a  man  of  good  life,  but  of  limited 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  407 

information.  He  itinerated  some  with  Edwards.  He 
preached  a  sermon,  in  ^vhich  the  smoke  and  the  locusts 
coming  out  of  it  were  made  to  represent  the  college ; 
the  pit  was  the  indefinite  amount  of  learning  —  no  limit 
to  it ;  the  smoke  was  the  mystifying  effect  of  human 
teaching  ;  college  men  always  made  things  dark  about 
them  —  were  locusts.  When  college-bred  men  are 
ready  for  work,  they  seek  good  salaries,  and  want  to 
live  on  the  fat  of  the  land.  John's  exegesis  was  not  in 
keeping  with  the  strictest  rules  of  grammar,  but  it 
illustrated  the  spirit  of  the  times. 

One  of  the  most  serious  objections  alleged  was  that 
it  was  to  be  a  "  priest  factory,"  where  men  not  called 
of  God  should  be  sent  out  to  preach.  Even  men  in 
high  official  position  made  this  assertion.  It  became 
so  serious  that  it  was  thought  best  to  issue  a  circular, 
which  disarmed  anything  of  the  kind.  It  can  be  found 
in  the  columns  of  the  Telescope  for  1848-47,  and  was 
w^ritten  by  Hauby  and  Davis.  It  says  :  "We  now  enter 
our  most  solemn  protest,  and  we  think  it  unkind  in  any 
of  our  brethren  thus  to  represent  us,  because  we  have, 
from  the  beginning,  disavowed  in  public  and  in  private 
any  intentions  of  the  kind.  Our  great  object  is  the  gen- 
eral diffusion  of  useful  knowledge,  especially  in  the 
church  to  which  we  belong.  *  *  *  As  it  respects 
the  opinions  of  the  fathers  of  the  church  we  do  not 
consider  them  of  superior  authority  in  deciding  a  ques- 
tion of  this  kind.  *  *  *  If  God  should  call  a  man 
from  the  plow,  let  him  go.  If  from  any  of  the  high 
schools  of  the  land,  let  him  likewise  go  and  go  imme- 
diately. *  *  *  This  sentiment,  we  think,  our  vener- 
ated fathers  held  no  more  sacred  than  we  do.  '  *  *  * 
And  now  all  we  ask  is  to  be  treated  with  Christian  court- 
esy, and  not  to  have  urged  upon  us  positions  we  have 


408  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

never  taken ;  and  further,  either  to  convince  us  of 
wrong  by  the  Bible  or  discipline,  or  allow  us  peaceably 
and  kindly  to  do  what  we  are  perfectly  willing  they 
may  not  do." 

The  first  new  college  chapel  which  was  built  at 
Otterbein  University,  and  which  was  burned  in  18Y1,  had 
a  recess  on  the  west  side,  designed  in  part,  when  frescoed, 
to  add  to  the  beauty  of  the  building.  A  man  from  north- 
ern Ohio,  if  we  mistake  not,  sent  as  a  trustee,  not  be- 
cause of  any  fitness  for  the  place,  but  that  his  friends 
might  thereby  compliment  him,  came,  returned  home 
and  reported  that  this  offset  was  a  place  in  which  the 
authorities  intended  to  place  a  large  Tnirror  in  front  of 
which  the  students  would  practice  their  bowing  and 
gesticulating,  and  that  the  effect  would  be  to  make 
the  young  people  proud  and  haughty,  and  should  not 
be  encouraged. 

Much  of  the  opposition  came  from  the  prevailing 
conviction  that  education  would  tend  to  formalism,  and 
that  those  brought  under  such  influence  would  not  be 
so  pious  as  hitherto.  A  good  lady  living  near  Circle- 
ville  intimated  a  desire  to  give  something  to  the 
institution  if  she  could  have  any  guarantee  that  it 
would  not  hinder  revivals.  Davis  took  note  of  her 
promise,  and,  when  revivals  occurred  year  after  year,  he 
informed  her  of  the  fact,  but  there  were  other  reasons 
for  delay  and  he  failed  to  get  her  money.  Davis  was 
charged  with  being  in  a  secular  business  which  was 
unworthy  of  a  Christian  minister  and  not  in  keeping 
with  his  vows,  but  in  God's  name  he  went  forward  and 
vfas  not  forgotten. 

The  idea  in  the  mind  of  Davis  was  to  educate  our 
own  children  under  our  own  religious  influence,  so  they 
should  not  be  led  away  from  our  own  church,  and  not 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.  409 

for  any  special  profession.  Bishop  Eussel  was  not 
opposed  to  education  in  the  abstract,  but  held  that  it 
was  not  the  mission  of  the  church  to  build  schools.  It 
was  the  business  of  societ\^  at  large  to  look  after  the 
secular  education  of  the  people.  Russel  listened  to 
the  presentation  of  his  side  of  the  case  by  Mr.  Davis, 
and  answered  him  by  saying,  "  Davis,  you  talk  slick,  but 
from  this  will  come  a  theological  seminary,  and  you 
will  be  professor  of  theology."  The  old  man  was  more 
of  a  prophet  than  he  supposed.  The  natural  result  of 
an  intelligent  people  will  be  a  higher  grade  of  ministry'-, 
and  this  will  necessitate  a  theological  seminary :  and 
Davis  was  for  years  a  professor  of  theology. 

At  this  late  day  we  are  struck  with  the  broad  com- 
prehension which  at  this  time  Mr.  Davis  had  of  the 
educational  problem.  He  did  not  have  any  special  edu- 
cation himself,  except  the  few  months  at  the  academ}^ 
He  had  not  read  any  books  or  journals  giving  him  the 
philosophy  of  the  subject.  He  had  not  come  in  con- 
tact with  college  graduates  or  college  professors. 
There  were  no  older  men  in  the  conference  who  had 
been  aroused  on  the  subject  and  from  whom  he  could 
catch  inspiration.  The  agents,  who  from  time  to  time 
were  sent  out,  were  working  for  the  church  and  sought 
contributions  because  this  enterprise  was  expected  to 
help  the  church,  but  just  in  what  way  they  could  not 
tell.  Bishop  Hanby  was  probably  the  most  intelligent 
and  faithful  ally  he  had,  but  he  did  not  so  much  lead 
as  follow  and  aid  Mr.  Davis.  In  the  General  Confer- 
ence which  authorized  this  movement,  it  is  not  proba- 
ble there  were  half  a  dozen  men  who  had  any  well  de- 
fined idea  of  the  educational  work  this  man  had  to  plan 
and  did  plan  to  meet  an  ideal  in  his  own  mind,  which 


410  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

ideal  was  so  accurate  that  it  has  been  and  "is  to-day 
not  only  the  accepted  policy  of  this  church,  but  of  all 
churches  and  of  educated  men  in  general.  At  the 
same  time  he  had  to  look  after  the  financial  interests 
of  this  institution,  shape  its  policy  and  secure  the  funds 
to  make  it  a  success,  in  all  of  which  he  acquitted  him- 
self with  credit. 

When  the  college  opened  it  was  in  charge  of  Pro- 
fessor GriflBth,  of  Indiana.  Davis  had  taught  some  in 
his  younger  years,  and  had  been  studying  more  or  less 
since  that  time.  What  he  had  learned  he  now  begins 
to  teach.  He  had  classes  in  English  grammar,  geog- 
raphy, bookkeeping,  elementary  natural  philosophy 
and  others  of  like  character.  While  doing  this  he  was 
taking  some  studies  in  the  college  himself.  He  learned 
to  read  the  Greek  Testament  fairly  well,  and  knew 
something  about  geometry,  from  which  he  got  his  first 
clear  insight  into  the  philosophy  of  reasoning.  During 
this  time  he  also  had  charge  of  the  college  boarding 
house,  which  proved  a  delightful  home  for  many  a 
student.  He  had  charge  of  this  for  seven  years,  but  as 
the  income  was  limited  it  paid  him  little  besides  his 
board.  In  the  meantime  he  studied  hard  to  meet  the 
wants  of  his  own  class,  to  keep  up  with  his  private 
work  in  college,  and  here  laid  the  foundation  of  that 
skill  which  afterward  served  him  so  well  when  he  came 
to  manage  the  institution  himself. 

With  the  ability  which  he  possessed  and  the  tact 
which  he  manifested  it  is  not  strange  that  his  brethren 
should  want  to  promote  him  to  what  they  supposed 
was  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  church.  He 
was  elected  bishop  of  the  General  Conference  which 
met  at  Miltonville,  in  1853.    It  was  a  position  he  did 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.  411 

not  desir^,  and  he  did  not  think  it  was  the  work  for 
which  he  was  best  adapted.  He  had  become  so  ab- 
sorbed in  his  educational  work  that  he  did  not  wisli  to 
give  that  up.  In  1850  he  had  been  chosen  president  of 
the  university.  He  proposed  to  resign  the  office  of 
bishop,  tliat  he  might  continue  in  the  educational  work. 
He  was  urged  to  give  a  jDortion  of  his  time  to  each  of 
these  lines  of  work,  and,  with  the  hope  that  at  the  end 
of  his  term  the  brethren  would  leave  him  off,  he  consent- 
ed so  to  do.  When  he  was  reelected  in  1857,  he  resigned 
the  presidency  and  Rev.  Alexander  Owen  was  chosen 
to  fill  the  vacancy.  As  his  failing  health  compelled 
him  soon  to  resign  Davis  was  again  sought  for  to  aid 
the  college,  and  as  his  tastes  were  more  along  this  line 
than  in  the  bishop's  office,  he  resigned  the  latter  in  the 
second  year,  and  returned  to  the  presidency  which  he 
held  until  1871,  when  he  vacated  this  place  to  accept  a 
place  as  senior  professor  in  the  faculty  of  Union 
Biblical  Seminary. 

Our  space  will  not  permit  us  to  enlarge  upon  this 
part  of  his  life  work,  but  somebody  ought  to  give  the 
church  the  inner  history  of  these  years  of  struggle  for 
the  educational  work  of  the  church.  It  is  a  valuable 
chapter  in  our  history,  which  can  not  well  be  omitted. 
JSTo  one  living  is  so  competent  to  give  it  as  Dr.  Davis  him- 
self, and  again  and  again  have  we  urged  him  to  do  so. 
The  history  of  Otterbein  University,  like  that  of  most 
of  those  founded  in  the  earlier  settlement  of  our  coun- 
try, affords  another  example  of  success  accomplished 
under  the  most  adverse  circumstances.  The  records  of 
the  trustees  in  the  early  days  of  the  university  show 
that  the  managers  of  the  institution  were  not  free  from 
perplexity.     Time  and  again  they  met  when  debts 


412  0  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

were  pressing  them,  without  knowing  which  way  to 
turn.  They  adjourned  to  meet  again  with  the  assurance 
that  succor  would  come,  but  in  what  direction  or  from 
what  source  they  could  not  tell.  They  had  a  conviction 
that  they  were  about  a  divine  work,  hence  they  could 
not  let  go.  In  the  records  of  the  executive  committee 
for  1860  we  find  this  action :  "  "We  recommend  further, 
that  in  order  to  succeed  we  must  give  ourselves  to 
earnest  and  fervent  prayer.  If  God  does  not  under- 
take for  us,  our  best  efforts  will  fail.  "We  have  reason 
to  believe  that  in  other  days  God  did  give  Otterbein 
University  favor  with  the  people,  and  will  do  so  again 
if  we  freely  turn  our  hearts  and  thoughts  to  Him." 

At  the  dedication  of  the  new  college  building,  in  1871, 
Dr.  Davis  resigned  the  presidency  to  take  a  place  in  the 
United  Brethren  Seminary  at  Dayton.  The  trustees 
of  the  university,  after  accepting  his  resignation  paid 
the  following  well-merited  compliment: 

^^liesolved,  That  in  accepting  the  resignation  of  Rev. 
Lewis  Davis,  D.  D.,  as  president  of  Otterbein  University, 
we  do  so  with  a  full  recognition  of  the  invaluableservices 
rendered  by  him  to  the  institution  during  the  eighteen 
years  through  which  he  has  been  its  honored  head,  and 
with  grateful  remembrance  of  his  unflagging  devotion 
and  perseverance  and  of  his  hope  against  hope  through 
all  its  vicissitudes  in  this  extended  period;  and  that  while 
we  sincerely  regret  his  separation  from  the  university 
just  at  a  time  when  it  is  entering  on  a  new  era  of  pros- 
perity and  usefulness,  the  best  wishes  and  most  de- 
vout prayers  of  this  board  shall  attend  him  to  the  new 
sphere  of  Christian  labor  upon  which  he  is  about  to 
enter." 

The  General  Conference  in  1869  instructed  the 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHEEN  IN  CHRIST.  41  3 

bishops  to  appoint  a  board  of  education,  whose  duty  it 
should  be,  in  addition  to  promoting  the  general  work  of 
education  in  the  church,  to  devise  and  adopt  a  plan  for 
founding  a  Biblical  institute,  to  be  under  the  control 
of  the  General  Conference;  to  locate  said  institution  and 
proceed  with  its  establishment  as  soon  as  possible. 
The  board  was  appointed,  and,  after  canvassing  the 
situation,  agreed  to  open  the  institution  October  11, 
1871.  Dr.  Davis  was  made  the  senior  professor,  and 
was  aided  in  his  work  by  Rev.  G.  A.  Funkhouser.  For 
fourteen  years  he  has  worked  faithfully  for  its  success, 
teaching  its  students,  doing  his  part  as  a  member  of  its 
board  of  trustees  and  in  its  executive  committee,  ad- 
vocating its  interests  in  the  church  paper ;  in  correspond- 
ing with  its  patrons,  in  soliciting  funds  for  its  upbuild- 
ing, in  any  way  he  could  he  sought  to  advance  its 
interests.  He  has  had  the  double  honor  —  an  honor 
given  to  a  very  few  men  of  this  day  —  of  piloting  our 
first  college  and  our  first  theological  seminary  through 
the  shoals  of  ignorance  and  the  quicksands  of  povert}^, 
until  they  have  taken  on  the  character  which  they  now 
have,  and  already  give  promise  of  their  wonderful 
power  for  good.  As  a  deserved  compliment  for  the 
work  done  in  these  two  directions  his  name  stands  on 
the  catalogue  of  Otterbein  University  as  professor 
emeritus,  and  also  in  the  same  relation  in  that  of 
Union  Biblical  Seminary,  and  will  likely  remain  here 
as  long  as  his  life  shall  last. 

When  the  building  now  occupied  by  the  seminary 
was  dedicated  in  1882  the  speaker  of  the  day  made  the 
following  complimentary  reference  to  him : 

"  I  am  glad  the  senior  member  of  this  faculty,  who 
years  ago  laid  the  foundations  of  the  collegiate  work  of 


414  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

this  church,  and  who  lifted  that  work  to  so  successfu\, « 
place  among  the  colleges  of  the  land,  is  here  to-day 
to  witness  the  dedication  of  this  building,  the  first  theo- 
logical seminary  in  this  church.  To  none  of  us  can  this 
day  be  so  pleasant  as  to  him  who,  almost  forty  years 
ago,  through  adversity  and  distrust  and  opposition, 
looked  forward  to  this  day  and  had  the  courage  and 
patience  to  wait  and  labor  for  its  realization.  May  he 
have  many  returns  of  this  anniversary  before  he  shall 
be  needed  in  that  grander  university  whose  pupils  are 
the  children  of  the  great  King." 

His  mother  died  many  years  ago.  Learning  that 
she  was  ill,  he  got  a  horse  and  buggy  and  went  to  Bote- 
tourt county,  Va.,  to  see  her  again.  He  spent  a  month. 
visiting  with  her.  During  this  time  she  was  confined  to 
her  bed,  and  he  had  frequent  and  long  talks  with  her. 
His  brother,  who  was  a  Methodist  preacher,  was  at  home 
at  the  same  time.  He  told  her  about  his  life  and  the 
work  in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  that  he  must  soon 
return  and  look  after  it.  She  arranged  with  him  that 
he  should  come  to  her  again  before  finally  leaving.  The 
hour  of  parting  at  last  came.  Let  him  tell  the  story. 
"  I  went  to  her  bed.  She  asked  me  to  kneel  down." 
Here  he  ceased  to  talk.  His  lips  trembled.  He  looked 
out  at  the  window.  Great  tears  were  chasing  each 
other  down  his  cheeks.  For  a  moment  he  could  not 
proceed.  The  door  of  memory  was  opened  and  a  flood 
of  recollections  came  back.  The  whole  scene  was  once 
more  before  him.  At  last  with  broken  utterance  he 
said:  "She  didn't  cry;  no,  she  didn't  cry.  I  kneeled 
beside  her  bed.  She  placed  her  hand  on  my  head ;  with 
her  other  she  gestured,  placing  it  on  her  bosom,  and 
said.  '  Cherish  the  truth  here ;  as  you  understand  the 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  415 

truth,  cherish  it  here;'  then  placing  her  finger  on  her 
lips,  said,  '  tlien  put  it  here.'  I  have  sometimes  used 
that  statement  and  that  gesture  before  my  classes.  I 
got  it  from  my  dying  mother.  I  never  saw  her  again, 
but  all  these  years  she  seems  not  to  have  been  very  far 
away  from  me.  Does  that  seem  like  mysticism  ?  I 
never  get  away  from  the  feeling  that  my  mother  is 
near  me.  I  have  sometimes  been  almost  too  decided 
in  saying  what  I  thought.  It  has  been  because  I 
thought  of  my  mother,  who  said,  'put  it  here,'"  plac- 
ing his  finger  to  his  lips. 

The  writer  has  known  Dr.  Davis  for  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  For  five  years  of  that  he  was  a 
member  of  the  same  college  faculty  with  him,  and 
became  familiar  with  his  views  on  educational  questions. 
During  a  part  of  this  time  he  has  been  on  terms  of  more 
than  ordinary  intimacy.  He  has  always  found  him  the 
same  honest,  faithful,  earnest  man.  He  is  a  man  who 
has  his  convictions  and  can  give  a  reason  for  them ; 
what  he  believes  at  all  he  believes  with  all  his  heart. 
In  his  earnestness  for  the  triumph  of  what  seems  clear 
to  him,  he  at  times  seems  severe,  but  there  is  no  hard- 
ness in  his  heart  for  men  who  honestly  differ  from 
him.  He  has  a  kind  of  quiet  contempt  for  men  who  are 
wish^^-washy,  who  have  no  opinion,  or  none  for  which 
they  care  to  contend.  To  put  it  in  his  own  language, 
he  "  has  no  use  for  such  men."  The  world  has  no  place 
for  them.  The  office  of  the  Christian  minister,  jes,  of 
every  Christian  man,  is  to  make  public  opinion  what  it 
should  be,  not  to  follow  it.  If  men  say  to  him  "  You  can 
not  succeed,"  he  answers  "  That  is  not  my  business." 
He  must  only  ask  himself  should  this  thing  exist,  and  if 
answered  in  the  afB.rmative,  then  he  is  called  of  God  to 


416  LEWIS   DAVIS 


help  cause  it  to  be,  and  he  is  derelict  to  his  highest 
convictions  of  duty  if  he  fails  to  use  all  the  means  at 
his  command  to  bring  it  to  pass. 

This  will  help  to  account  for  his  unceasing  hostil- 
ity to  secret  societies.  From  his  standpoint  they  were 
at  war  with  every  interest  of  society  and  of  the 
Christian  church.  He  had  studied  their  origin 
and  history,  knew  every  specious  plea  for  their 
existence,  and  how  to  meet  it.  He  was  an  open, 
fair  antagonist,  but  his  sledge-hammer  blows  were 
blows  the  opposition  did  not  care  to  meet.  He 
would  as  soon  think  of  committing  suicide  as  to 
give  his  name  to  any  organization  and  take  a 
solemn  oath  to  "  forever  conceal  and  never  reveal " 
what  should  be  said  to  him.  As  a  preacher  sent 
of  God  it  was  his  business  to  utter  the  truth  and 
not  to  conceal  it.  To  have  required  him  to  travel  the 
streets  with  his  hands  on  his  mouth,  keeping  within 
his  own  bosom  his  convictions  of  duty,  would  have 
been  a  severe  punishment  to  him.  When  John  Mil- 
ton was  traveling  on  the  continent  to  complete  his 
education,  civil  discord  in  England  was  a  sufficient 
cause  for  his  returning  home.  In  those  stern  days  men 
could  not  shilly-shally  down  the  stream  of  popular 
compromise.  Milton  soon  took  sides  against  what  he 
regarded  as  tyranny.  He  says :  "  When  God  com- 
mands to  take  the  trumpet  and  blow  a  dolorous  blast,  it 
lies  not  in  man's  will  what  he  shall  say  or  what  he  shall 
conceal.  I  considered  it  dishonorable  to  be  enjoying 
myself  in  foreign  lands  while  my  countrymen  were 
striking  a  blow  for  freedom." 

Davis  was  always  a  thorough  anti-slavery  man.  He 
was  so  in  Virginia  before  he  came  to  Ohio,  and  did  not 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BBETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  417 

need  to  be  converted.     He  sympathized  with  all  loyal 
men  during  our  late  Civil  War,  and  hailed  with  delight 
all  legislation  that  would  help  the  black  man.     These 
views  of  his  would  compromise  him  somewhat  when 
he  labored  along  the  border  of  the  slave  States.     He 
had  learned  from  his  mother  to  put  the  truth  in  his 
heart  and  speak  it  from  his  lips.     After  preaching  on 
one  occasion  he  went  home  with  a  farmer,  and  after 
reading  an  account  of  emancipation  in  the  West  Indies, 
commended  the  matter  to  his  host.  The  latter  said  noth- 
ing but  treasured  up  the  affair  in  his  own  heart,  and 
after  Davis  left  no  doubt  talked  freely  to  his  neighbors 
about  it.     When  Davis  returned  again,  the  man  would 
not  entertain  him,  although  his  family  were  members  of 
the  church.     He  stood  for  his  own  convictions,  and  the 
community  were  stirred  up  against  him.     Twelve  miles 
from  this  place  he  preached  on  Sunday  afternoon  and 
to  a  large  audience.  When  he  was  done  a  man  came  for- 
ward and  read  a  paper  to  the  audience,  in  which  it  was 
asserted  that  Davis  was  an  "  abohtionist, "  and  he  was 
asked  to  respond  whether  he  was  or  not.     If  lie  did  not 
answer,  it  would  be  assumed  he  was.     If  he  was,  he  was 
warned  to  leave  the  country.     This  was  in  Ohio,  a  free 
State,  where  men  were  supposed  to  ha\^e  a  right  to  their 
own  convictions  and  to  be  allowed  to  civilly  express 
them.     A  Baptist  man  who  was  X3resent,  and  a  friend  of 
his  but  at  the  same  time  a  pro-slavery  man,  jumped  for 
the  party  who  read  the  paper,  intending  to  punish  him 
but  he  had  made  his  escape.    Davis  read  from  the  United 
Brethren   discipline  to  show  that  we  are  opposed   to 
slavery.     In  this  excited   condition  of  things  the  con- 
gregation of  course  interpreted   what  he  read  to   be 
rank  abolitionism. 


418  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

About  three  miles  from  this  place  lie  went  to 
preacli  one  night,  and  the  man  who  was  to  entertain 
him  was  a  Virginian,  a  tough  United  Brethren,  and  a 
pro-slavery  man.  His  horse  was  placed  in  charge  of 
Mr.  Ewing,  a  scholarly  man  and  somewhat  intimate 
friend.  The  congregation  listened  until  he  Avas 
through  with  his  sermon.  He  then  read  discipline 
again  here  to  show  the  position  of  the  church  and  that 
he  was  honestly  representing  the  convictions  of  his 
people,  and  then  asked  them  if  any  of  them  could  oppose 
that  to  stand  up  manfully  and  defend  themselves.  Davis 
waited,  but  no  one  took  up  the  challenge.  He  hoped 
Mr.  Ewing  would.  Davis  then  said,  "  You  go  away 
and  talk  about  me,  but  you  won't  meet  me  in  argu- 
ment." The  meeting  closed  and  he  returned  with  his 
host,  Mr.  Powell.  They  had  supper,  but  nothing  was 
said.  Before  long  a  note  was  received  from  Mr. 
Emng,  saying  he  could  not  keep  his  horse  any  longer. 
Mr.  Powell  reported  there  was  great  excitement  out- 
side. Davis  went  out  to  get  his  horse,  but  could  not 
find  it.  "  Mr.  Ewing,  why  did  you  so  treat  me  ?  Why 
not  stand  up  and  defend  yourself  Avhen  you  had  op- 
portunity ?"  said  Davis.  He  answered,  "  Mr.  Davis, 
personally  I  respect  you  very  highly,  but  your  senti- 
ments are  dangerous,  and  I  can  not  entertain  them." 
"  Why  not,  then,  reply  ? "  "  Beca^use  I  respected  you,  and 
wished  to  keep  down  the  mob."  "  Mr.  Ewing,  I  placed 
my  horse  in  your  care,  and  if  any  damage  is  done  to 
him  you  will  pay  me  for  him."  Davis  returned  to 
Powell's,  but  the  latter  did  not  want  him  to  remain. 
Davis  left  him  and  went  to  another  house  and  asked 
for  a  bed  to  sleep  in,  and  slept.  Ewing  sent  a  man  to 
hunt  the  horse  and  found  him,  and  Davis  was  awak- 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  419 

ened  at  midnight  by  a  messenger  from  Ewing,  asking 
him  to  come  and  get  his  horse.  Davis  examined  the 
horse  carefully  to  see  that  all  was  right,  and  when  he 
satisfied  himself  it  was,  he  mounted  it  and  rode  about 
four  miles  and  found  another  member  of  his  church, 
a  pro-slavery  man,  however,  who  took  him  in  and  gave 
him  bed  and  breakfast.  To  his  surprise  he  found  the 
schoolmaster,  who  had  read  the  paper  after  his  sermon, 
was  boarding  here.  As  Davis  rode  over  the  hill  in  the 
mornino-  on  his  journey  he  overtook  this  man  and  he 
ordered  him  to  leave  the  country.  Davis  answered  that 
he  would  leave  when  he  was  ready,  and  if  this  man 
wanted  to  help  him  out  he  had  better  begin  soon.  He 
did  not  mean  to  be  frightened  away  from  his  duty.  He 
was  made  of  sterner  stuff. 

At  one  time  he  was  on  the  train  on  his  way  to  Cin- 
cinnati, and  saw  the  conductor  put  a  colored  man  off 
the  train.  He  went  to  some  of  the  officials  who  were  on 
board  to  learn  if  this  was  endorsed  by  them,  and  found 
it  was.  Indignant  at  such  conduct,  he  expressed  his 
mind  to  them  concerning  the  matter.  Near  him  sat  a 
Kentuckian  who  had  heard  what  was  going  on.  He 
came  to  him  afterward,  and  in  terms  of  congratulation 
said,  "  I  see  you  are  an  abolitionist ;  I  admire  you  for 
speaking  as  you  do.  Men  should  not  hide  their  con- 
victions." Davis  himself  always  sought  to  act  on  that 
line.  He  says,  "  I  have  sought  to  treat  all  men  without 
guile.  I  do  not  cover  up  my  convictions.  If  I  have  a 
sentiment  which  men  ought  to  know,  I  must  assert  it. 
It  is  both  a  pleasure  and  a  duty."  During  the  war, 
when  there  was  so  much  timeserving,  he  had  his  con- 
victions and  asserted  them.  Men  had  no  trouble  in 
ascertaining  where  he  stood  and  what  he  believed  on 


420  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

any  important  question.  While  residing  in  "Wester- 
ville  one  of  tlie  old  citizens,  Mr.  Westervelt,  saw  him. 
on  his  way  to  the  polls  on  election  day,  and  said  to 
him,  "  President,  you  are  going  to  vote  with  the  abo- 
litionists, of  course."  "  Yes."  "  Well,  you  and  the 
preachers  like  you  have  done  all  they  could  to  bring  on 
the  war."  "  Yes,  I  did  all  I  could,"  was  the  cool  reply. 
"  Well,  I  don't  want  anything  more  to  do  with  you,"  said 
the  astonished  citizen.  Davis  said,  "  Let  me  explain: 
the  Saviour  said,  '  I  came  not  to  send  peace  on  earth, 
but  a  sword.'  I  advocate  the  truth,  and  if  that  brought 
on  the  war,  then  I  am  guilty.  This  was  made  the 
occasion  of  war.  I  was  willing  to  take  the  conse- 
quences of  telling  the  truth." 

Mrs.  Davis  tells  a  story  of  her  husband  which  is  too 
good  not  to  be  repeated.  A  young  man  from  the 
South  found  his  way  to  the  college,  and  also  found  a 
home  in  the  family  of  the  president.  He  was  polite  and 
courteous,  a  moderate  student,  but  indoctrinated  with 
southern  ideas,  and  of  course  believed  that  slavery  was 
the  natural  condition  of  the  black  man.  Mr.  Davis  was 
anxious  to  correct  his  erroneous  views,  and  took  occasion 
at  meal  time  as  the  most  opportune  period,  to  put  his 
opinions  before  the  student.  As  the  latter  could  not, 
of  course,  meet  the  objections  brought  against  his  pet 
notions,  he  became  a  little  annoyed  at  times,  but  bore 
it  all  patiently.  The  end  came  one  day  when  a  fugitive 
slave,  on  his  way  north,  stopped  at  the  president's,  and 
he  insisted  he  should  be  brought  out  to  the  table  to  eat 
with  the  family,  including  the  young  man.  This  was 
the  straw  that  broke  the  camel's  back.  Under  no 
circumstances  could  he  submit  to  such  indignity.  By 
permission  he  left  the  table  and  went  to  the  hotel  to  get 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  421 

his  dinner.  He  was  very  angry.  Some  parties  anxious 
to  know  the  trouble  inquired  if  he  did  not  have  a 
pleasant  boarding  place.  The  young  man  answered  it 
was  all  pleasant  and  good  except  one  thing :  "  It  was 
niggah  for  breakfast,  and  niggah  at  dinner  and  niggah 
at  supper :  it  was  just  niggah  all  the  time."  JSTeverthe- 
less  the  president  was  not  converted  from  his  anti- 
slavery  views. 

One  of  the  characteristics  which  crops  out  during 
his  whole  life  is  his  high  steadfastness  of  purpose. 
"  Most  men  live  only  from  hand  to  mouth.  The  bias 
of  their  hfe  is  presented  to  them  by  accident.  They 
are  driven  hither  and  thither  by  the  gusts  of  their 
own  passions,  or  become  the  sport  and  prey  of  others, 
or  intrust  the  decision  of  their  course  to  the  immoral 
god,  circumstance.  In  the  words  of  Isaiah,  '  Gad 
and  Meni  are  the  idols  of  their  service;  they  pre- 
pare a  table  for  chance  and  furnish  a  drink  offering 
to  destiny!'  From  such  idols  no  inspiration  comes." 
In  his  early  years  Milton  wrote  to  a  young  friend, 
"  You  ask  me,  Charles,  of  what  I  am  thinking.  I 
think,  so  help  me  heaven,  of  immortality."  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  not  thinking  so  much  of  immor- 
tality as  he  was  of  his  Master's  approval  and  to  build 
up  the  church  of  his  choice.  From  this  high  aim,  no 
privation,  no  disappointment,  no  opposition  could  turn 
him.  Inflexible  as  the  needle  to  the  pole,  he  pursued 
the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  and  his  efforts  were  re- 
warded with  success. 

He  has  a  strong  emotional  nature.  The  notion  that 
strong  emotions  are  incompatible  with  strong  intel- 
lectual powers  has  long  since  been  exploded.  The  his- 
tory of  all  men  who  have  made  their  mark   in  the 


422  LEWIS   DAVIS 


world's  progress  shows  a  vigorous  emotional  nature 
combined  with  strong  intellect.  The  biographer  of 
Dr.  Mark  Hopkins  says,  "  Friends  who  knew  him  in- 
timately discovered  depths  of  sentiment  in  his  soul, 
shy  and  furtive  tenderness,  which  ordinary  acquaint- 
ances would  not  suspect.  A  native  reserve  inclined 
him  to  silence  touching  the  whole  world  of  his  inner 
and  spiritual  self.  In  some  respects  he  was  a  solitary 
man,  shut  up  with  himself  and  his  God.  It  was  easier, 
more  natural  for  him  to  speak  of  his  thoughts  than  of 
his  feelings.  But  though  he  may  have  been  silent,  it 
does  not  follow  the  feelings  were  absent."  In  more 
than  this  respect  do  we  find  a  parallel  between  these 
distinguished  educators.  Neither  of  them  in  the  begin- 
ning expected  to  become  teachers  for  life.  The  posi- 
tions they  filled  in  the  educational  world  came  to  them 
without  seeking.  They  were  both  men  of  magnificent 
physical  frame  and  commanding  personal  appearance. 
They  were  men  of  intense  enthusiasm,  and  in  all  edu- 
cational achievements  this  has  borne  a  distinguished 
part.  Until  the  last  day  of  their  teaching,  the  intel- 
lectual powers  of  both  were  brilliant  as  ever,  and  their 
interest  as  keen  in  questions  which  for  years  they  had 
discussed  with  their  students.  They  had  both  learned 
the  true  art  of  teaching :  to  begin  with  the  simplest 
elements  and  to  construct  the  fabric  "  with  which  they 
became  familiar  from  foundation  to  the  topstone." 
They  both  recognized  the  individuality  of  the  student 
and  sought  to  develop  it ;  not  that  they  were  indiffer- 
ent to  their  own  views,  but  habits  of  independent,  self- 
reliant  thinking  were  of  more  value  than  the  adoption 
of  any  systems.  They  ^vere  both  skillful  in  question- 
ing, and  when  a  subject  was  in  hand,  at  any  cost  it  had 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHEIST.  423 

to  be  reduced  to  the  last  analysis.  They  were  both 
catholic  and  large  minded  in  their  relation  to  truth, 
and  while  clinging  to  the  old  were  ready  to  welcome 
the  new.  They  had  both  cultivated  of  necessity  the 
habit  of  extempore  speaking,  and  could  think  well  in 
the  presence  of  an  audience.  They  were  both  men  of  large 
hopefulness,  and  taught  their  pupils  to  shun  the  "  pit- 
falls of  pessimism."  I^either  of  them  were  students  of 
literature  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term  ;  were  not 
great  readers  of  miscellaneous  books.  Some  of  our 
greatest  men  have  been  men  of  few  books.  It  was  not 
so  much  their  power  of  acquisition  as  of  personality 
that  impressed  their  pupils.  They  established  no 
special  school  of  thought.  This  was  not  their  aim,  but 
"  to  train  men  into  habits  of  broad  and  independent 
thinking,  to  develop  the  sources  of  personality — that 
loftiest  summit  toward  which  we  move  in  our  attain- 
ment." 

A  friend  who  was  at  one  time  conversing  with  him 
concerning  his  entrance  into  the  ministry  says:  "  He 
was  ordained  May  5,  1842.  Henry  Kumler  gave  him 
his  license.  He  showed  me  a  little  pocket-book  con- 
taining his  license,  with  a  string  tied  around  it.  It 
was  of  black  morocco  and  had  a  gilt  border  to  it.  He 
had  a  friend  who  was  a  school  teacher  in  the  Kanawha 
country  where  he  taught.  '  I  loved  him  and  he  loved 
me.  I  had  bought  a  new  pocket-book  and  showed  it 
to  him.  He  emptied  the  contents  of  both  on  the  table, 
and  gave  me  this  one  and  asked  me  to  keep  it  as  long 
as  I  lived,  and  promised  he  would  keep  mine  till  he  died. 
"We  parted  then  and  I  never  saw  him  afterward.  I  do 
not  remember  to  even  have  heard  from  him.'  The 
young  man's  name  was  Robert  Lupken.     Great  tears 


424  LEWIS  DAVIS, 

stood  in  his  eyes  as  he  turned  over  this  memento  in  his 
fingers,  and  the  memory  of  his  early  manhood  days 
came  back  upon  him." 

Under  an  apparently  severe  exterior  Dr.  Davis  has  a 
warm,  sunny  heart.  While  hating  sin  he  has  a  warm 
interest  in  his  race.  Whatever  concerns  the  destiny  of 
man  concerns  him.  While  sober  and  sedate  and  digni- 
fied when  occasion  demands  it,  around  his  own  quiet  fire- 
side he  delights  to  unbend  to  his  friends  and  no  man 
enjoys  a  clean  joke  better  than  he.  When  surrounded 
by  those  who  take  pains  to  call  out  this  part  of  his  nature, 
the  sallies  of  wit  fly  thick  and  fast.  There  is  nothing  bit- 
ter or  sarcastic  in  his  thrusts,  but  done  with  the  most 
generous  kindness  and  with  a  merry  twinkle  in  the 
eye.  His  temperament  is  hopeful  and  his  whole  nature 
sunny.  He  would  much  rather  compliment  men  than 
find  fault  with  them.  This  cheerfulness  has  permeated 
his  whole  religious  life.  He  takes  no  account  of  that 
spurious  piety  which  shows  itself  in  long,  sour  faces  and 
dolorous  sounds,  while  at  the  same  time  it  thrusts  its 
fingers  into  your  pockets  to  filch  your  money  or  j^our 
character.  His  piety  is  not  a  thing  to  be  put  on  and 
off  like  a  cloak,  but  has  grown  into  the  very  warp  and 
woof  of  his  nature.  He  has  come  so  near  the  throne 
and  looked  so  often  into  the  face  of  the  Anointed  that 
his  heart  may  continually  rejoice  and  his  life  speak 
forth  words  of  blessing^. 

In  1868  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  faculty  and  trustees  of 
Washington  and  Jefi'erson  College,  Pennsylvania.  It 
was  a  well  merited  compliment  paid  to  a  deserving  man. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  (1888)  we  looked  in  on  Dr. 
Davis  at  his  own  quiet  home  in  Dayton  once  more,  and 


SEVENTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  425 

received  a  very  cordial  welcome.  He  is  now  released 
from  any  oflBcial  responsibilities.  He  has  almost  com- 
pleted his  seventy-Qfth  year.  A  little  tinge  of  sadness 
manifests  itself  as  he  tells  us  how  the  church  he  has 
loved  so  dearly,  and  for  which  he  has  labored  so  long,  is 
drifting  away  from  her  moorings,  and  is  in  danger  of 
being  stranded  on  the  quicksands  of  worldliness.  He  is 
as  busy  as  ever,  spending  much  of  his  time  in  his  quiet 
study,  revising  his  lectures  and  consulting  his  books, 
his  ever  faithful  friends.  His  face  is  toward  the  land 
of  Beulah.  The  Delectable  mountains  are  almost  in 
sight.  He  can  begin  to  faintly  hear  the  music  of  those 
who  sing  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb.  For  our 
sakes  may  he  yet  be  spared  to  us  many  days.  When 
the  Master  does  call  we  are  sure  he  will  hear  the  wel- 
come plaudit,  "  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant, 
enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

"And  if  the  eye  must  fail  of  light. 
The  ear  forget  to  hear. 
Make  clearer  still  the  spirit's  sight. 
More  fine  the  inward  ear. 

Be  near  me  in  mine  hours  of  need 

To  soothe  or  cheer  or  warn, 
And  down  these  slopes  of  sunset  lead. 

As  up  the  hills  of  morn."  Whittieb. 


REV.  JACOB  MARKWOOD, 
EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


REV.  JACOB  MAKKWOOD  was  born  December 
26,  1815,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  west  of 
Charlestown,  Jefferson  county,  "W.  Ya.  His  grand- 
parents on  his  father's  side  came  from  Germany 
and  settled  at  Charlestown,  then  Virginia,  now  West 
Virginia.  His  father,  John  Markwood,  was  born  here 
April  2,  17T2.  Upon  the  death  of  his  parents,  John  was 
left  to  support  the  family.  This  put  on  his  shoulders 
a  heavy  burden,  and  opened  the  way  to  the  common 
temptations  which  beset  the  path  of  the  young  man  de- 
prived of  parental  counsel  and  restraint.  During  these 
years  of  toil  to  maintain  a  comfortable  living  for  those 
dependent  upon  him,  he  formed  the  habit  of  drinking, 
from  which  he  was  never  afterward  entirely  free.  He 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Margaret  Durst,  in 
the  year  1Y97.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  a  woman  of  superior  culture  for  that  day. 
She  was  fitted  both  by  nature  and  by  training  for  the 
arduous  work  of  caring  for  a  family  of  children.  With- 
out the  advantages  of  schools  or  frequent  church  serv- 
ices, and  with  but  limited  means  at  her  command,  she 
secured  the  best  advantages  of  the  times  for  her  family. 
Those  whom  Providence  had  made  the  objects  of  her 
love  had  a  careful  home  training,  as  well  as  the  exam- 
ple of  a  faithful  Christian  mother.  Though  the  father 
never  professed  Christianity,  with  the  exception  named 
he  was  an  upright  man,  of  good  character,  and,  aided  by 

436 


(L^^,^2^^^iSii.^iP-2^^ 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.     427 

a  faithful,  Christian  wife,  he  reared  a  Christian  family. 
He  was  a  mason  by  trade,  and  labored  to  secure  for  his 
family  the  best  he  could. 

There  w^ere  born  to  these  parents  five  sons  and 
three  daughters.  David,  the  eldest  child,  was  born  in 
1798,  and  died  in  Fairfield  county,  Ohio,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  ninety-eight  years.  Catharine  was  born  in  1801, 
and  died  at  Martinsburg,  "W.  Ya.,  in  1869.  Maria  was 
born  in  1803,  and  has  spent  most  of  her  life  in  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.  John  was  born  in  April,  1806,  and  is  living  in 
comfortable  circumstances  near  Ridge ville.  Mineral 
county,  W.  Ya.  He  was  for  a  time  a  preacher  in  the 
United  Brethren  Church.  He  is  a  man  of  sterling 
worth,  and  has  lono^  given  character  to  the  church  in 
his  community.  He  has  been  blind  nine  years  from 
cataract,  but  lives  in  good  hope  of  seeing  Christ  as  he  is. 

The  above-named  children  were  born  in  Charles- 
town,  then  a  small  village,  now  the  county  seat  of 
Jefferson  county.  The  family  then  moved  one  and  one- 
half  miles  west  of  the  village,  where  Lucy,  the  third 
daughter,  was  born  in  1809.  She  removed  to  the  West 
where  she  lived  a  number  of  years.  Henry  Avas 
born  in  1812,  and  lived  an  honorable  life,  the  latter 
years  of  which  were  spent  in  Mineral  county,  W,  Ya. 
Here  also  were  born-  the  twin  brothers,  Conrad  and 
Jacob,  on  December  26,  1815.  Conrad  died  near 
Zanesville,  Ohio.  He  was  blind  for  almost  six  years 
before  his  death.  The  family  home  was  maintained ;  the 
youngest  children  were  nearly  fifteen  years  of  age  when 
the  father  broke  up  housekeeping  and  the  children 
were  left  to  look  after  themselves.  The  parents  were 
both  blind  for  several  years  preceding  their  death,  the 
mother  for  fourteen  years  from  effect  of  a  cataract. 


428  JACOB    MAKKWOOD, 

She  fell  asleep  in  Jesus  at  Martinsburg  in  183S.  Slie 
had  been  a  faithful  and  loving  mother,  and  left  to  her 
children  a  goodly  heritage  in  imperishable  things.  The 
father  lived  with  his  daughter  to  the  age  of  ninety-nine 
years  and  six  months,  and  died  near  Ridgeville,  Mineral 
county,  W.  Ya.,  June  18, 1871.  The  boys  were  all  con- 
verted in  youth,  and  all  held  places  of  honor  in  the 
church,  either  as  preachers,  exhorters  or  class  leaders. 
All  the  daughters  became  religious  early,  except  Catha- 
rine, who  was  not  converted  until  middle  life. 

Jacob  Markwood,  the  illustrious  representative  of 
this  honored  family  of  Virginians,  bore  the  striking 
characteristics  of  his  father.  For  the  finer  qualities  of 
his  nature  and  the  nobler  training  of  his  youth,  he  was 
doubtless  debtor  to  his  mother.  He  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  one  of  a  large  family  of  children,  and, 
being  the  youngest,  he  would  incur  the  dangers  of 
increased  parental  fondness,  but  there  were  no  traces  of 
these  discernible  in  his  after  life.  His  childhood  was 
spent  in  the  home  of  his  parents,  with  his  brothers  and 
sisters  as  his  companions.  At  once  sprightly  and 
pleasant  among  his  playmates,  he  began  in  childhood 
to  exhibit  the  elements  of  character  which  were  after- 
ward to  appear  in  one  of  the  most  thrilling  men  of  his 
time.  Early  in  youth  he  had  a  severe  attack  of  fever, 
the  effect  of  which  followed  him  for  years  and  robbed 
him  of  many  privileges  and  opportunities  which  other- 
wise he  might  have  enjoyed.  His  father,  possessing 
no  real  estate,  was  compelled,  in  seeking  employment, 
to  move  from  one  place  to  another,  and,  while  this 
method  of  living  had  some  advantages,  it  also  had  its 
disadvantages. 

At  this  early  day  the  country  afforded  few,  and  these 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     429 

very  poor,  opportunities  for  education.  A  few  months 
of  school  training,  such  as  it  was,  must  suffice  in  these 
times  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  families 
in  the  common  walks  of  life.  First  in  Charlestown, 
then  one  and  a  half  miles  in  the  country,  then  at  Shady 
Springs  on  the  banks  of  the  Shenandoah,  then  at  Shep- 
herdstown  on  the  Potomac,  afterward  at  Green 
Springs,  Frederick  county,  for  a  time  at  Martinsburg, 
W.  Ya,,  and  possibly  elsewhere,  wandering  here  and 
there,  this  family  found  little  chance  to  secure  even 
the  meager  advantages  offered.  The  greater  part  of 
his  childhood  was  spent  at  Shady  Springs,  Jefferson 
county,  Ya.,  but  the  first  schooL-  he  attended  was 
a  subscription  school  (there  were  no  others  in  his  time) 
about  two  miles  from  Shepherdstown,  taught  by  Mr. 
Lemon,  of  Pennsylvania.  On  one  occasion  he  was  pun- 
ished for  some  misbehavior,  but  although  the  whipping 
was  unusually  severe,  young  Markwood  obstinately 
refused  to  cry,  thereby  manifesting  the  strong  will  that 
afterward  gave  tone  to  his  character.  This  term  of 
three  months  with  a  few  others,  amounting  in  all  to  not 
more  than  ten  or  twelve  months,  constituted  his  course 
of  preparation,  so  far  as  the  school  room  was  concerned. 
This  was  by  no  means  the  limit  of  his  education.  He  pos- 
sessed an  inquiring  mind.  From  earliest  childhood  grew 
the  desire  for  knowledge.  Quick  and  intelligent  in 
school,  when  out  of  school  he  allowed  no  chances  of 
gathering  information  to  pass  by  unimproved.  Of 
grammar,  a  study  then  thought  unimportant,  he  was 
passionately  fond  in  his  younger  days,  and  often  vent- 
ured severe  criticisms  on  the  inaccuracies  of  the  pro- 
fessedly learned.  Books  were  his  companions  when  a  boy, 
and  were  not  cast  heedlessly  aside  at  the  approach  of 


430  JACOB  MARKWOOD, 

manhood.  He  handled  them  with  a  kindred  pride 
and  care  when  the  fancies  of  childhood  had  been  sup- 
plemented by  the  grander  themes  of  science  and  theol- 
ogy. His  early  life  was  greatly  influenced  by  the  study 
of  the  Bible.  Its  teachings  furnished  themes  for  con- 
versation when  opportunity  offered  for  acquiring  a  fuller 
understanding'  of  its  meaning. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  and  his  twin  brother  were 
left  to  their  own  resources.  They  were  tossed  here 
and  there,  often  among  strangers,  securing  as  best 
they  could  the  necessities  of  life.  During  these  years 
he  had  encouragement  in  his  desire  to  receive  an  educa- 
tion and  some  little  aid  from  his  brother  John.  After 
working  about  the  country  for  some  five  or  six  years,  he 
went  to  work  for  his  brothers  John  and  Henry,  who 
were  running  a  woolen  factory  on  Green  Spring  river, 
in  Frederick  county,  Va.  With  them  he  learned  the 
weaver's  art  and  became  skillful  in  the  manufacture  of 
woolen  goods  and  in  the  use  of  the  power  loom.  This 
was  his  trade.  He  continued  in  this  occupation  until 
he  entered  the  ministry.  Prior  to  his  engagement  with 
these  brothers  on  Green  Spring  river  he  had  worked 
with  an  older  brother  in  a  factory  near  the  old  home. 
It  was  during  this  time  that  the  interesting  experience 
related  by  John  Lawrence  in  his  "  History  of  the  United 
Brethren  in  Christ,"  volume  II,  page  222,  occurred.  Mr. 
Lawrence  says  of  Jacob  Markwood,  that  "  In  his  tenth 
year  he  became  the  subject  of  deep  convictions,  and 
while  a  book  containing  the  experience  of  some  English 
Wesleyan  preachers  melted  his  heart,  a  tract  on  the  final 
damnation  of  the  wicked  caused  him  to  tremble  with 
fear  and  to  pray  for  mercy.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  he 
was  put  to  work  in  a  woolen  factory  under  the  care  of 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     431 

an  elder  brother.  While  thus  employed  he  attended  a 
revival  meeting,  during  which  meeting,  while  kneeling 
at  the  mourners'  bench,  after  a  three  dsijs'  struggle,  he 
found,  to  use  his  own  words,  '  inexpressible  peace  in 
Christ.'  "  This  was  probably  a  Methodist  meeting. 
There  were  at  that  time  no  United  Brethren  in  the 
communities  where  he  resided.  Several  years  elapsed 
before  he  came  to  Green  Spring,  where  he  first  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  the  church  w^itli  which  he  after- 
ward became  so  closely  identified. 

From  the  date  of  his  conversion  he  carried  the  con- 
victions of  his  call  to  the  ministry.  But  on  account  of 
his  youth  and  a  sense  of  his  inability  to  meet  the  high 
requirements  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  with  some 
other  discouragements  which  he  met,  he  delayed  his 
entrance  upon  this  important  work.  During  this  interim 
which  was  little  more  than  his  boyhood  years,  he  main- 
tained the  honest  convictions  of  his  heart  by  an  "up 
right  walk  and  chaste  conversation."  He  chose  well  his 
company.  His  associates  were  moral,  and  for  the  most 
part  religious  so  far  as  he  could  have  it  so.  He  was  not 
a  looker  on  merely  among  his  associates,  but  was  recog- 
nized as  a  leader,  and  exerted  such  an  influence  as  to 
shame  what  was  dishonorable  among-  them.  Livino' 
from  childhood  in  and  near  the  scenes  of  his  early  years, 
there  has  not  come  to  the  one  who  has  furnished  most  of 
the  information  for  this  sketch,  information  of  a  single 
discreditable  act  which  connects  itself  with  the  career 
of  Jacob  Markwood.  Doubtless  he  had  his  faults,  but 
those  of  his  companions  who  remain  unto  this  day 
have  long  since  learned  to  associate  his  memory  only 
with  noble  deeds. 

The   date   of  his  conversion  was  October  9,  18-32. 
It  is  related  of  him  that  he  read  the  Bible  from  this 


432  JACOB  MARKWOODj 

time  forward  with  great  regularity.  "When  working 
in  the  factory  he  would  have  it  on  the  loom  before  him 
or  on  the  nearest  window,  that  he  might  at  any  spare 
moment  gather  some  knowledge  from  its  pages.  He 
was  not  alone  in  this.  In  the  class  of  United  Brethren 
at  Green  Spring  to  which  he  first  belonged  were  others, 
who  at  the  bench,  or  behind  the  plow,  from  a  pocket 
Testament  often  gleaned  the  grains  of  gold.  His  early 
manhood  was  spent  among  a  people  where  careful 
study  and  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  was  scarcely 
equaled  by  any  of  the  church  then  in  the  Shenandoah 
valley. 

The  "  Old  Stone  Church,"  known  by  that  name  for 
many  miles  around  Green  Spring,  still  stands,  in  which 
in  the  fall  of  1836,  along  with  the  converts  of  a  recent 
camp  meeting,  Jacob  Markwood  presented  himself  as 
an  applicant,  on  profession  of  faith,  for  membership  in 
the  church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ.  On  the 
one  hand  was  James  C.  Hott,  who  yet  lives,  a  pillar  in 
the  church,  and  on  the  other  a  younger  brother,  Jacob 
F.  Hott,  who  was  for  many  3"ears  a  fellow  laborer  in 
the  ministry,  and  who  now  shares  with  him  "  the  rest 
of  the  weary."  Attendance  ujDon  the  camp  meeting  re- 
ferred to  had  kindled  anew  the  desire  of  his  earlier 
years,  and  at  the  solicitation  of  the  members  of  the 
church  he  was  induced  to  participate  in  its  communion. 
He  was  received  into  the  church  by  Rev.  John  Haney. 

The  woolen  factory  on  Green  Spring  is  now  in  ruins. 
It  was  accidentally  burned  about  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War,  and  was  never  rebuilt.  It  was  built  on  Green 
Spring  river,  which,  starting  from  a  large  spring  often 
appearing  of  that  color,  after  an  irregular  course 
of   four  or   five  miles,   turning  four  flour  mills   and 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETIIKEN  IN  CHRIST,    433 

two  saw  mills,  empties  into  Black  creek  and  becomes 
a  tributary  of  the  Potomac  river.  Amid  such  surround- 
ings, the  great  currents  of  his  soul  again  became  tur- 
bulent. Will  Jacob  Markwood,  the  weaver,  enter  the 
Gospel  ministry?  The  question  had  been  asked  on  the 
mountain  path  by  his  comrades  and  men  trained 
among  the  brethren  of  the  "  Old  Stone  Church."  In  its 
most  weighty  form  it  proposed  itself  to  the  hesitating 
youiig  man  at  the  loom.  Doubtless  under  the  shadow 
of  the  mountains  overlooking  him  on  the  east  and  by 
the  murmuring  rill  winding  among  the  hills  on  the 
west,  and  beneath  the  shadows  of  the  weeping  willows 
in  the  tangled  morasses  of  the  narrow  valley  between, 
he  often  pleaded  with  burdened  spirit  that  God  might 
lead  him  in  the  way  he  ought  to  go.  Hesitancy  had 
become  a  power  which  only  divine  grace  could  over- 
come. These  rugged  hills  and  leafy  dells  held  the 
secret  of  his  eloquence  in  prayer.  Many  persons  rec- 
ognized it  and  saw  therein  his  fitness  for  the  work,  for 
in  those  primitive  days  more  than  now,  the  church  be- 
lieved that  power  in  prayer  was  an  eminent  qualifica- 
tion for  the  ministry  of  Jesus. 

Prominent  among  those  whose  example  and  course 
influenced  the  after  life  of  Jacob  Markwood,  was 
Peter  Hott,  who  some  months  since  outlined  many  of 
the  facts  contained  in  these  pages,  but  whose  reward 
is  now  no  longer  in  uncertainty.  On  various  occasions 
he  took  3' oung  Markwood  with  him  to  meetings,  which 
he  was  accustomed  to  hold  at  different  schoolliouses 
about  the  country,  and  at  these  used  to  good  advantage 
the  talent  of  the  factory  hand.  Encouraged  by  his  ef- 
forts in  conducting  public  services,  Markwood  allowed 
his  name  to  be  presented  to  the  class  for  a  recommen- 
dation to  obtain   license  to  exhort.     This  was  granted 


434  JACOB  MAEKWOOD, 

by  the  class  at  Green  Spring,  and  the  recommendation 
was  carried  to  the  quarterly  conferences  of  Winchester 
circuit,  Virginia  Conference,  which  met  at  the  old  Pine 
Church,  near  Stephen  City,  Ya.,  over  which  Jacob 
Eineheart  presided  as  elder.  Here  he  was  licensed 
to  exhort  in  June,  1837.  In  the  following  September 
he  was  given  license  to  preach,  and  began  to  use  his 
gift  as  opportunity  offered,  as  a  helper  on  the  fields 
over  which  others  had  charge.  He  was  encouraged  in 
his  preparation  for  the  ministry  by  his  brother  John, 
and  so  far  as  known  met  with  no  discouragements  from 
any  of  the  family.  Like  so  many  of  his  times  and 
place,  and  like  not  a  few  of  our  own  day,  he  was  a  con- 
stant user  of  tobacco.  There  was  little  said  in  opposi- 
tion to  its  use  then,  but  his  increased  experience  led 
him  to  abandon  its  use  several  years  before  he  died. 

It  seems  a  little  difficult  to  say  just  when  and  where 
his  first  sermon  was  preached.  Prior  to  receiving 
license  from  the  church  he  was  often  called  upon  to 
speak,  and  was  accustomed  to  respond  by  the  use  of 
some  passage  of  Scripture,  upon  which  he  would  speak 
with  great  earnestness.  An  instance  of  this  kind  is 
especially  mentioned  where  in  a  schoolhouse  in  what 
is  now  called  Welltown,  he  spoke  with  great  unction 
from  the  words,"Come  thou  with  us  and  we  will  do  thee 
good."  What  may  with  most  probabilit}'^  be  called  his 
first  sermon  was  preached  in  the  house  of  John  Hott, 
a  member  of  the  Lutheran  church.  -This  was  within 
two  hundred  yards  of  where  the  church  now  stands  in 
which  the  bishop  made  his  last  public  address,  and  but 
little  over  a  mile  from  where  he  was  received  into  the 
church.  From  this  class  since  the  days  of  Markwood 
have  gone  out  nearly  a  score  of  ministers. 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.  435 

Said  one  who  knew  him:  "  If  ever  he  thought  or 
talked  of  some  other  calhng  than  the  ministry  it  was 
the  ebulUtion  of  some  transient  mood,  for  lie  was  a 
minister  of  Jesus  by  every  tendency  of  his  soul  and 
affinity  of  his  heart.  He  was  a  God-ordained  prophet 
in  the  very  faculties  of  his  intellect  and  the  instincts  of 
his  conscience.  He  could  have  been  nothing  else  unless 
he  had  been  false  to  himself.  His  powers  took  hold  of 
theology  as  a  Eaphael  took  hold  of  painting,  with  the 
power  and  force  of  a  consuming  love.  No  man  ever 
had  a  higher  estimate  of  the  Gospel  ministry  than  him- 
self. I  remember  to  have  congratulated  him  when 
elected  to  the  office  of  bishop,  and  he  replied,  '  Oh,  my 
dear,  precious  brother,  your  office  as  a  true  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  beyond  all  comparison,  infinitely  be- 
yond my  office  as  a  bishop  or  any  other  office  on  earth.' " 

He  was  small  in  stature,  perhaps  not  over  five  feet 
seven  inches  in  length.  He  was  neatly,  even  delicately 
formed  and  modeled  after  a  most  perfect  S3''mmetrv. 
His  feet  and  hands  were  remarkably  small ;  he  wore  a 
number  three  boot.  His  complexion  was  dark,  his  face 
singularly  corrugated  and  mobile,  with  a  power  of  ex- 
pression exceeding  that  of  words,  and  this  was  no  small 
part  of  his  matchless  oratory.  His  eyes  wore  a  glassy 
appearance  and  in  the  later  years  of  his  life  seemed  to 
be  fixed  upon  some  object  a  great  way  off.  His  voice 
was  characteristic  and  capable  of  almost  infinite  modu- 
lations and  suavity.  It  was  equally  remarkable  in  its 
quality,  being  that  of  a  strangely  shattered  bugle.  In 
elocution  he  followed  no  model  but  his  own  strong,  im- 
pulsive nature  and  intense  enthusiasm.  He  possessed 
the  power  of  being  precise,  perspicuous,  ornate,  ar- 
gumentative, grand,  simple,  even  luxurious,  and  that  all 


436  JACOB   MAKKWOOD, 

in  the  same  sentence.  It  is  impossible  to  account  for 
liis  eloquence  upon  any  single  principle,  save  upon 
character,  and  the  marvelous  combination  of  his  un- 
rivaled powers.  Those  who  heard  him  in  his  palmy 
days,  and  those  only,  can  form  anything  like  an  adequate 
conception  of  his  power  over  an  audience.  His  speech 
was  rapid,  flowing  on  in  a  ceaseless  torrent  of  coher- 
ently chosen  and  perfectly  articulated  words.  His  in- 
tensity of  thought,  courage  of  diction  and  cultured 
acumen  enabled  him  to  coin  words  at  will,  and  that 
with  a  smoothness  and  adaptability  to  his  subject  that 
accorded  with  the  judgment  and  taste  of  the  most  fas- 
tidious. Had  he  been  the  product  of  refined  and  cult- 
ured society,  or  had  he  enjoyed  the  privileges  of 
a  collegiate  training,  his  unique  character  could 
be  more  easily  understood.  But  he  was  himself,  yet 
alike  affable  and  attractive  to  all.  His  life  further  on 
shows  how  his  characteristics  approached  the  eccentric 
in  later  years. 

In  March,  1838,  he  was  received  into  the  Yirginia 
Annual  Conference.  Two  wiio  were  members  then  — 
George  Hoffman  and  Mr.  Lute  —  are  still  living.  Mr. 
Hoffman,  who  has  now  passed  his  four  score  years, 
says  that  the  year  in  which  Markwood  joined  the  con- 
ference it  met  in  annual  session  at  Shiloah,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  ISTew  Bethlehem,  Augusta  county,  Ya.,  with 
Bishop  Samuel  Heistand  presiding.  Meager  records 
are  to  be  found  of  his  early  work  in  the  ministry.  The 
journal  of  the  conferences  up  to  1850,  which  contained 
the  reports  of  his  labors,  has  been  lost  for  a  number  of 
years.  Says  Mr.  Lawrence,  "  He  was,  in  1838,  appointed 
to  travel  Hagerstown  circuit,  as  a  colleague  of  William 
Knott,  where  lie  remained   ten  years.     Next,  he  was 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    437 

sent  to  South  Branch  circuit,  where  he  labored  two 
years  longer." 

From  this  record  it  is  seen  that  he  served  but  four 
years  as  a  pastor  and  that  on  two  charges.  He  was  then 
elected  presiding  elder  in  1843,  and  was  placed  on  the 
Maryland  district.  Those  who  Avere  gathered  into  the 
church  during  his  pastorate  on  these  charges  have 
passed  to  their  reward.  The  universal  testimony  re- 
maining is  that  he  was  from  the  beginning  successful, 
both  in  his  pulpit  and  pastoral  work.  While  he  may 
never  have  had  the  reputation  of  a  revivahst,  yet  there 
are  sufficient  evidences  that  he  met  with  no  ordinary  suc- 
cess in  this  important  part  of  the  church  ^vork.  Possessed 
of  a  quick  discernment,  aided  by  a  thorough  insight 
into  character,  it  could  not  but  greatly  aid  in  directing 
his  incisive  utterances  home  to  the  hearts  of  those  to 
whom  they  applied.  The  power  of  his  logic  confirmed 
and  convinced  men  of  opposing  view^s,  while  the  irre- 
sistible influence  of  his  impassioned  eloquence  carried 
his  hearers  like  the  rushings  of  a  mighty  tempest. 

His  time,  while  on  circuits  and  districts,  was  most 
diligently  employed  in  study.  Logic,  metaphysics 
and  medicine  were,  perhaps,  his  favorite  studies,  yet 
there  was  scarcely  a  branch  of  learning  of  which  he 
did  not  have  a  good  knowledge.  He  possessed  a  rich  and 
voluminous  vocabulary,  which  placed  at  his  command 
the  inexhaustible  resources  of  his  fertile  mind.  With 
an  almost  unerring  memory  he  retained  and  repro- 
duced whatever  came  within  his  notice.  He  w^as 
intensely  critical,  but  seldom,  if  ever,  did  he  allow  this 
trait  to  assume  an  odious  form.  He  carried  an  earnest 
desire  to  help  others,  and  his  criticisms  were  offered 
for  this  purpose.     On  one  occasion,  after  hearing  a 


438  •  JACOB  MARKWOOD, 

minister  preach  who  used  the  word  "  platform,"  pro- 
nouncing it  "  flatform,"  he  was  stopping  over  night 
at  the  same  house  with  him,  and  late  in  the  night 
awakening  from  his  sleep,  and,  remembering  the  word, 
he  went   to   the  room   of  the   minister  and    called  : 

"  Brother !  brother  !  p-1-a-t-f-o  r-ni — platform,"  and 

then  returned  again,  sleeping  no  more,  but  leaving  the 
brother  to  profit  by  the  interruption  of  his  slumbers. 

This  disposition  to  help  others,  and  especially  young 
members,  found  expression  in  the  loaning  of  good  books. 
To  loan  a  good  book  was  to  him  an  opportunity  of  do- 
ing good  which  he  was  always  glad  to  embrace,  nor  did 
his  helpfulness  stop  here.  He  was  known  on  several 
occasions,  when  presiding  elder,  to  distribute  his  quar- 
terly collection  among  the  poor,  even  to  the  last  cent, 
and  borrowed  money  to  go  on  his  way.  The  recipient 
of  certain  favors  from  the  bishop  related  that  years  ago, 
before  entering  the  ministry,  when  he  and  his  family 
were  in  need,  he  having  been  sick  for  some  time,  the 
bishop  loaned  him  money  sufficient  to  meet  tlie  de- 
mands of  their  pressing  needs.  After  recovering  so  as 
to  be  about,  he  met  the  bishop  and  mentioned  the  pay- 
ment of  the  money  loaned  to  him.  The  bishop  said  to 
him:  "  You  must  hush,  brother;  do  not  talk  about  pay- 
ing me  that  while  you  and  your  family  are  in  such  a 
condition.  It  hurts  me."  There  was  no  stingy  corner 
in  his  soul.  When  his  parents  were  old  he  greatly  con- 
tributed to  their  support  and  comfort.  It  was  his  cus- 
tom to  always  remember  the  servants  at  homes'  where 
he  stopped  over  night. 

With  his  election  to  the  presiding  elder's  office  came 
the  enlargement  of  his  usefulness.  For  eighteen  years 
almost   incessantly  the   church  had  the  benefit  of  his 


EIGHTEENTH  RTSHOP  UNITED  BKETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     439 

1 

arduous  sei-vices  in  this  field.  Mr.  Lawrence  says  that 
1854  and  1855  were  spent  in  an  agency  for  the  mission- 
ary society.  Unfortunately  the  records  give  no  account 
of  his  work  in  this  cause.  The  Virginia  Conference 
Journal  states  that  in  1853  J.  J.  Glossbrenner  and  J. 
Markwood  were  appointed  a  committee  to  see  to  the 
organizing  of  a  home  missionary  society  within  the 
bounds  of  the  conference,  and  shows  the  aggressive 
movements  in  this  direction.  The  following  resolution 
is  found  in  j,he  minutes  of  1855 :  "  Resolved,  That 
Jacob  Markwood  be  appointed  an  agent  to  travel 
til  rough  the  bounds  of  this  conference  and  sohcit  sub- 
scriptions for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  house  of  wor- 
siiip  in  Frederick  City,  Md.  In  1856  he  was  again 
electetl  elder,  and  was  continued  from  year  to  year 
until  1861,  when  he  was  chosen  bishop.  He  preached 
the  annual  sermon  before  the  Board  of  Missions,  in 
session  at  Milford,  Warren  county,  Ind.,  which  con- 
vened May  11,  1859,  from  "Whatsoever  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them."  It  is 
given  in  the  report  in  full,  and  covers  only  seven  pages. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  board  from  1855  to  1861. 

He  took  a  great  interest  in  the  agitation  of  higher 
education  in  the  church.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneer 
laborers  in  this  work  in  Virginia  conference.  He  was 
for  a  number  of  years  a  trustee  of  Mt.  Pleasant  College, 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  for  a  time  trustee  of  Otterbein 
University.  In  1845  he  was  elected  agent  of  the 
printing  establishment,  but  for  some  reason  declined  to 
serve.  He  served  as  secretary  of  his  conference  foi'  a 
number  of  years. 

As  presiding  elder  he  was  a  tireless  worker.  :N"o 
district  was  so  large,  no  journey  so  long  as  to  abate  his 


440  JACOB  MARKWOOT), 

ardor.  Often  to  reach  distant  appointments  he  rode 
day  and  night,  clianging  horses  with  members  along 
the  way  as  often  as  necessary  to  reach  his  destination. 
Our  Church  History  said  while  he  w^s  yet  living : 
"  Mr.  Markwood  is  a  bold  defender  of  the  peculiarities 
of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  an  indefatigable  itiner- 
ant, a  Christian  of  the  finest  mold,  an  eloquent  and 
faithful  preacher,  and  he  is  never  happier  than  when 
in  his  saddle  climbing  over  the  hills  and  mountains  on 
the  way  to  a  quarterly  meeting."  Often  in  those  days 
the  grit  of  an  elder  was  put  to  the  test,  especially  at 
camp  meetings,  but  here  he  was  equal  to  the  emer- 
gency. On  one  occasion  when  at  a  camp  meeting 
where  huckstering  was  forbidden,  certain  parties  began 
to  erect  a  stand  for  selling  knick-knacks,  liquors  and 
such  like.  Markwood  went  out  where  they  were,  and  in 
a  good-humored  way  told  them  they  must  leave,  and 
taking  a  hatchet  knocked  down  the  stand  faster  than 
they  could  erect  it.  For  a  time  they  persisted  in  their 
work,  but  he,  talking  all  the  time  about  the  weather 
and  the  crowds  that  were  coming  to  the  meeting,  tore 
away  the  structure,  throwing  it  over  the  fence  into  the 
road,  and  was  soon  rid  of  the  nuisance.  He  exerted  a 
remarkable  influence  over  those  who,  it  would  seem, 
were  his  enemies,  scarcely  ever  failing  to  control  them 
at  liis  wnll,  sometimes  firml}^,  sometimes  kindly  and 
■sometimes  playfully.  He  was  often  severe  on  those 
wlipse  lives  evinced  no  sincerity,  and  gave  no  promise 
of  good.  On  one  occasion,  when  preaching,  he  was  in- 
terrupted by  one  who  wanted  to  interpose  some  doubt- 
ful notions,  but  who'took  his  seat  as  if  struck  by  light- 
ning when  the  bishop  gave  a  heavy  scowl  and  spoke  out, 
"  Sit  down,  you  tadpole  of  hell."     At   another   time, 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     44:1 

when  he  found  a  trifling  character  at  the  altar  he 
went  to  him  and  in  his  characteristic  uay  said,  "Aren't 
you  tired?"  and  receiving  the  answer  "No,"  here- 
plied,  "  Well,  when  you  get  tired  you  can  get  up  and 
go  away." 

For  his  uncompromising  adherence  to  the  principles 
of  the  Union  in  the  earh'  part  of  the  war,  he  was  reported 
to  the  southern  confederacy,  as  he  had  reason  to  be- 
lieve, b}'"  one  of  his  acquaintances  and  a  member  of  the 
church,  and  a  reward  of  $1,000  was  offered  for  his 
arrest.  Afterward  he  met  the  supposed  informer  at 
the  house  of  a  friend,  and  while  sitting  on  the  porch 
the  following  conversation  ensued.  The  bishop  said, 
playfully,  "  Brother,  do  you  like  niggers  ? "  "  Ko,  I 
don't,"  was  the  answer.  Said  the  bishop,  "  I  do.  I  like 
to  sit  near  them  where  I  can  smell  them  ;  they  smell 
better  than  some  white  people." 

In  his  preparation  for  the  pulpit  he  was  the  fjiirthest 
removed  from  stereotyped  methods.  His  preaching 
was  extemporaneous,  a  method  adapted  to  his  brilliant 
oratory.  He  sometimes  used  notes  as  helps,  but  they 
were  brief.  He  seldom  preserved  them.  He  rarely 
wrote  a  sermon  in  full.  No  more  than  two  or  three  of 
his  sermons  remain  in  permanent  form.  He  would  use 
the  same  text  on  different  occasions,  but  in  the  strict 
sense  he  never  repeated  a  sermon.  He  said  he  could 
not  prepare  a  sermon  as  other  men,  but  must  study 
carefully  his  subject  beforehand  and  at  the  time  depend 
upon  his  general  information  and  the  help  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  preaching.  It  may  also  be  said  that  he  made 
the  most  thorough  preparation  for  his  work.  No  man 
of  his  circumstances  read  more  Avidely  or  more  thor- 
oughly than  he.     A  sermon  of  his  in  manuscript,  "On 


442  JACOB  MAKKWOOD, 

Election  and  Reprobation,"  delivered  at  Lacy  Springs, 
Va.,  is  in  the  possession  of  a  friend  in  Ohio. 

He  was  elected  bishop  in  1861,  and  served  in  this  of- 
fice eight  years,  thi-ough  perhaps  the  stormiest  period 
in  the  church's  history,  his  associates  in  office  being  J. 
J.  Glossbrenner,  David  Edwards,  Daniel  Shuck  antl 
Henry  Kuraler,  Jr.,  for  the  first  quadrennium,  and  the 
same  the  second,  with  the  exception  of  J.  Weaver  in 
place  of  Henry  Kumler,  Jr.  While  bishop  his  work 
was  of  a  most  acceptable  character.  Says  a  Western  ed- 
itor :  "  We  had  the  pleasure  last  evening  of  listening  to  a 
most  eloquent  sermon  by  Bishop  Markwood  in  the  Unit- 
ed Brethren  Church.  *  *  *  The  subject  was  "Ex- 
perimental Religion."  It  was  a  masterly  effort,  rich  in 
logic,  philosophical  and  brilliant.  The  bishop's  health 
is  still  feeble,  but  the  sermon  of  last  Sabbath  evenino- 
was  the  work  of  a  grand  mind."  Minnesota  Confer- 
ence Minutes  for  1862  says:  ''The  bishop  preached 
three  very  excellent  sermons,  and  on  Saturday  evening- 
delivered  a  thrilling  lecture  on  the  Rebellion  and  state 
of  the  country."  In  the  Rock  River  Minutes  of  1862 
we  find  the  following:  '"The  bishop  delivered  a  soul 
stirring  and  instructive  sermon  on  the  Christian  ministry, 
Avhich  will  tell  favorably  on  the  destiny  of  manv  souls 
in  the  great  day  of  the  Lord."  Wisconsin  Minutes, 
1865,  reports:  "At  11  o'clock  Bishop  Markwood, 
though  exceedingly  lame  and  suffering  much  pain, 
preached  with  much  power  and  acceptability."  To 
these  might  be  added  many  more.  Wherever  he  went 
he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  preachers  of  his 
time.  During  the  last  years  of  his  ministrv  he  endured 
great  suffering,  but  he  maintained  that  peculiar  bril- 
liancy of  mind  that  ever  won  the  admiration  of  his 
hearers. 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  I5RETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    443 

As  already  intimated,  his  sympathies  were  with  the 
Union  during  the  hite  Rebellion,  and  his  public  addresses 
on  the  state  of  the  country  were  among  the  ablest 
efforts  of  his  ]ife.  On  account  of  his  political  views  he 
was  not  allowed  to  remain  in  Virginia  during  the  war, 
but  made  good  use  of  his  time  in  the  North  and  West 
in  aiding  in  many  ways  to  strenthen  the  sentiment 
in  favor  of  the  loyal  North.  When  the  Virginia  Con- 
ference could  not  meet  in  one  body,  he  presided  over 
the  northern  portion.  At  the  various  conferences,  when 
resolutions  were  offered  on  the  state  of  the  country, 
the  bishop  would  often  respond  to  the  unanimous  call  of 
the  house,  in  the  most  eloquent  appeals  for  the  Union 
and  the  freedom  of  the  slaves,  sometimes  speaking  for 
more  than  an  hour. 

He  was  absent  from  the  Minnesota  and  Northern 
Iowa  Conferences  in  1863,  but  few  were  the  hindrances 
that  he  allowed  to  keep  him  from  filling  an  engage- 
ment. Mr.  Lawrence  speaks  of  him  as  a  fearless 
defender  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  church.  In  its 
battles  it  relied  upon  him  as  an  old  soldier.  Slaver v, 
secrecy  and  such  questions,  upon  which  the  church  took 
an  advanced  position,  found  in  him  a  tireless  foe. 
Belie\ang  them  to  be  evil,  he  hated  them  as  he  hated 
evil.  He  was  not  unwilling  to  risk  all  for  a  right 
principle.  He  was  highly  respected  by  the  conferences 
over  which  he  presided,  and  there  was  at  the  close  of 
his  first  term  a  universal  request  for  his  return  to  the 
district,  and  at  the  cl6se  of  his  second,  universal  sympa- 
thy for  him  in  his  afflictions  and  prayer  for  his  recoverv. 

In  the  year  1837,  on  the  3d  of  September,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Arbeline  Rhodeffer,  of 
Luray,  A^a.  Her  mother  was  a  Baptist,  while  her 
father   was   in   sympathy   with   them.     She   went  t6 


444  JACOB    MARK  WOOD, 

visit  some  relatives  in  Augusta  county  by  the  name  of 
Spittler.  These  parties  were  members  of  the  United 
Brethren  Church,  and  while  Miss  Khodeffer  was  here  she 
was  converted.  She  was  an  only  daughter,  brought  up  in 
a  refined  and  wealthy  home.  Her  training,  as  well  as  the 
opinion  entertained  by  her  parents,  naturally  put  a  wide 
difference  between  the  spheres  of  the  zealous  presiding 
elder  and  the  beautiful  maiden  of  Luray.  This  differ- 
ence developed  on  the  part  of  the  parents,  the  father 
especially,  into  sincere  opposition  to  this  marriage,  Avhich 
liad  to  be  consummated  away  from  home;  but  this  feel- 
ing was  shared  b\^  the  parents  alone.  The  daughter, 
like  a  loyal  woman,  gave  not  only  her  hand  but  her 
heart  to  share  the  cares  and  toils  of  an  itinerant  in 
Virginia,  Amid  the  ceaseless  labors  which  came  to 
him,  life  went  smoothly  with  them,  and  after  years 
witnessed  complete  reconciliation  in  the  house  at  Lura3\ 
Mr.  Markwood  was  ardently  devoted  to  his  wife,  and 
she  proved  to  be  a  most  faithful  companion  to  him  in 
the  latter  years  of  his  life,  when  affliction  made  much 
attention  necessary.  She  was  ready  to  do  all  in  her 
power  to  relieve  his  suffering.  She  never  uttered  a 
complaint  because  deprived  of  the  luxuries  of  earlier 
years.  They  had  no  cliildren  to  bring  joy  to  their 
declining  years. 

In  1865  it  became  apparent  that  the  incessant  toil  to 
which  the  bishop  had  subjected  himself  was  making 
serious  inroads  on  his  phj^sical  powers,  and  for  the 
future  his  work  must  be  done  with  less  energy,  lie 
was  afflicted  with  nervous  prostration,  which  became 
the  occasion  of  great  pain.  On  the  Virginia  Conference 
Journal  are  records  each  year  from  1866  to  1872 
bearing  to  him  the  sympath}^  of  his  brethren  in  the 
ministry  and  praying  for  his  recovery.     He  was  present 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IX  CHRIST.    445 

for  the  last  time  at  the  Virginia  Conference  wliicli  met 
at  Chewsville.  Md.,  1870.  In  1871  and  1872  he 
was  unable  to  attend.  During  these  years  of  affliction 
be  was  at  times  able  to  travel,  and  occasionally  preach, 
and  at  times  gave  some  hope  of  final  recovery.  IS^ear 
the  close  of  his  life  his  sight  failed  very  much,  though 
he  was  not  entirely  blind.  While  compelled  with 
truthfulness  to  say  that  his  mind  at  times  during  his 
sickness  suffered  some  temporary  aberrations,  yet  he 
never  failed  to  exhibit  the  keenest  perceptions  of  human 
weakness. 

"While  from  home  on  one  occasion,  he  was  prostrated 
at  the*  home  of  a  member  of  the  church  for  several 
days,  perhaps  weeks ;  on  his  partial  recovery  he  pre- 
pared to  continue  his  journey,  and  on  bidding  the 
brother  adieu  the  bishop  said,  "Farewell,  brother;  if  I 
get  able  I  will  pay  you,  but  if  I  am  never  able  the 
Lord  will  reward  you  for  your  hospitality."  He  was 
afterw^ard  asked  something  about  the  brother,  when  he 
replied,  "Yes,  I  saw  veiy  plainly  that  he  was  more 
anxious  that  I  should  pay  him  than  he  w^as  that  the 
Lord  should  rew^ard  him." 

When  remonstrated  with  against  his  fatal  habit 
of  intense  industry,  without  repose  or  relaxation,  he 
would  answer,  "Yes,  you  are  right,  but  I  can't  help.it." 
His  every  power  was  strung  to  intensity.  "  He  was  an 
intellectual  and  spiritual  Jehu.  He  drove  the  coursers 
of  his  chariot  with  loosened  reins  and  stinging  lash.  In 
everything  he  did  he  kept  life's  engine  running  at  its 
utmost  speed  all  the  time.  No  \Yonder  that  so  soon  it 
wore  out." 

One  who  was  very  near  to  him  says  :  "  Of  an  acutely 
sensitive  conscience,  he  kept  himself  uniformly  strung 
up  at  a  moral   tension  that  perpetually  strained  his 


440  JACOB  MAKKWOOD, 

health  and  exhausted  his  physical  system.  Had  he  not 
possessed  extraordinary  constitutional  powers  he  must 
have  been  numbered  long  before  he  was,  among  those 
whom  the  'zeal  of  God's  house'  hath  eaten  up.  What 
multiplied  labors  did  he  not  willingly  undergo?  What 
fearful  exposures  did  he  not  gladly  suffer,  and  what  bit- 
ter sacrifices  did  he  not  joyfully  make  for  Christ's  sake  ? 
Who  ever  knew  him  to  consider  himself,  his  own  ease 
or  convenience,  when  any  duty  called  or  opportunity 
offered  by  which  any  kind  of  good  was  promised  to  his 
brethren  or  to  the  cause  of  religion  or  charity  ?  And 
when  with  broken  frame  and  distempered  nerves  he 
worked  with  the  force  and  effect  of  two  able-bipdied 
men,  who  ever  knew  him  to  indulge  in  an}''  complaining 
of  his  labors  or  to  ask  any  special  recognitions  for  his 
services.  Perfectly  humble  and  self-accusing,  he  never 
had  the  support  of  even  a  just  estimate  of  himself  and 
his  self-denying  and  consecrated  life.  His  whole  life  was 
an  unceasing  outflow  of  heart  and  brain,  and  labor  for 
the  highest  love  of  God  ancj  the  greatest  good  of  man." 
He  lingered  in  the  lights  and  shadows  of  affliction 
until  January  22,  1873,  when  his  spirit  passed  peace- 
fully into  the  presence  of  his  blessed  Lord.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  he  was  surrounded  by  his  friends  in  the 
home  of  his  father-in-law,  near  Luray,  Va.  The  burial 
services  were  conducted  by  Eev.  George  W.  Statton, 
and  his  remains  were  deposited  in  the  cemetery  at  that 
place.  A  few  years  later,  at  the  request  of  friends 
and  with  the  consent  of  Mrs.  Markwood,  the  remains 
were  removed  to  the  cemetery  at  Rohrersville,  Wash- 
ington county,  Md.,  where  there  was  erected  at  his 
grave  a  suitable  monument  to  his  memory.  Still  a  few 
years  later,  according  to  a  provision  in  the  will  of  Mrs. 
Markwood,   her  executor.  Rev.   J.  W.  Howe,  had  his 


EIGHTEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     447 

remains  returned  to  the  former  burial  place  in  Liira}', 
where  they  quietly  sleep  awaiting  the  resurrection  of 
the  just.  The  following  inscription  is  found  on  the 
marble  shaft  at  his  grave : 

REV.  JACOB  MARKWOOD, 

LATE  BISHOP  OP  THE  TJ.  B.  CHURCH. 
BORN   DECEMBER   26th,  1815  ;   DIED   JANUARY   22d,    1873  ;    AGED   57 

YEARS  AND  27  DAYS,      HIS  LAST  WORDS  : 

"MY  "WORK  IS  DONE  ;   THE  LORD  HAS  NO  MORE  AVORK  FOR  ME  TO  DO." 

"BLESSED  ARE  THE   DEAD  WHICH  DIE   IN   THE   LORD.       THE^    REST 

FROM  THEIR  LABORS,  AND  THEIR  WORKS  DO  FOLLOW  THEM." 

At  the  session  of  the  Virginia  Conference  which  met 
in  Hagerstown,  Md.,  February  13,  1873,  a  most  touch- 
ing and  feeling  memorial  of  their  dead  brother  was  read 
and  put  on  their  journal.  He  was  loved  and  honored 
by  all  his  brethren. 

Mrs.  Markwood  afterward  married  Rev.  Joseph  Her- 
shy,  of  the  St.  Joseph  Conference.  He  died  not  very  long 
after.  She  lived  a  few  years  longer  and  died  at  Shire- 
manstown.  Pa.,  December  3, 1886,  at  the  home  of  Sister 
Erb.  Her  remains  rest  beside  the  bishop  near  her  ear- 
lier home  near  Luray,  Va.  Her  attachment  to  the 
church  was  constant  to  the  last.  In  the  disposal  of  her 
property  she  remembered  the  institutions  of  the  church, 
which  received  the  larger  share  of  all  her  effects.  Thus 
was  given  to  the  Lord  the  lives  and  the  possessions  of 
these  His  children.  The  Master  saw  fit  to  remove  the 
laborer  in  the  strength  of  his  years  from  his  earthly 
vineyard  ;  indeed,  far  too  soon  for  his  fellow-laborers  in 
the  Gospel.  Yet  doubtless  it  was  well ;  The  day  is  over, 
the  toil  ended  and  the  servant  pillows  his  head  on  the 
bosom  of  his  Lord  forever. 


JONATHAN  WEAVER,  D.  D., 
NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST 


JONATHAN  WEAVEK,  D.  D.,  has  served  the 
church  longer  than  any  other  living  bishop.  He 
was  elected  in  1865,  and  will  soon  have  completed 
twenty-four  years  of  faithful,  efficient  service. 

His  grandfather  on  his  father's  side  came  from 
Germany  about  the  3'ear  1750,  and  for  a  time  lived  in 
Lancaster  count}^  Pa.  About  1Y52  he  moved  to 
"Western  Pennsylvania  and  resided  in  Washington 
county.  His  grandfather  on  his  mother's  side  was 
born  in  this  country,  but  the  place  can  not  now  be  as- 
certained. He  also  settled  in  Washington  county, 
Pa.,  in  an  early  day.     He  was  of  German  origin. 

The  father  and  mother  were  both  born  in  Washmg- 
ton.  Pa.,  in  the  same  3'ear,  and  probably  about  17Y5. 
No  record  was  kept  of  these  events,  but  the  dates, 
while  not.  absolutely  certain,  are  presumably  correct. 
The  father  and  mother  of  our  subject  were  married  in 
Washington  county.  Pa.,  about  1798.  They  emigrated 
to  Ohio  about  the  year  1810.  These  parents,  like  al- 
most all  their  neighbors,  were  uneducated.  They  could 
read  and  write  in  the  German,  and  learned  to  read  and 
write  in  tlie  English  after  they  were  married.  The 
father  died  when  he  was  about  sixty -three  years  of  age, 
and  became  a  Christian  when  about  sixty.  Before  this 
time  he  had  lived  a  moral,  upright  life.  The  mother 
was  also  converted  when  about  sixty  years  of  age,  but 
was  inclined   to  religious   things,   and    was   always  a 

448 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     449 

faithful,  persistent  Bible  reader.  This  afterward 
proved  of  great  help  in  strengthening  the  faith  of  her 
son.  From  the  time  of  her  conversion  she  was  a  very 
devoted,  earnest  Christian,  and  during  the  later  years 
of  her  life  most  of  her  time  Avas  given  to  reading  and 
prayer.  She  was  ready  in  the  Scriptures,  and  well  in- 
formed as  to  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Gospel. 
She  died  in  the  eighty-seventh  year  of  her  age,  in  full 
hope  of  a  blessed  immortality.  The  son  has  much  of 
the  temperament  of  the  mother,  and  in  many  respects 
inherits  her  nature. 

J.  Weaver  was  born  in  Carroll  county,  Ohio,  March 
23,  1824.  There  were  six  boys  and  six  girls  in  the  fam- 
ily, and  he  was  the  youngest  of  the  twelve  children. 
Two  sons  and  three  daughters  are  still  living;  all  except 
one  lived  to  manhood  and  womanhood.  One  brother 
died  at  thirty -six  years  of  age;  the  rest  all  lived  to  reach 
fifty  years  and  upward.  Those  now  living  are  aged  re- 
spectively, sixty-four,  sixty-six,  sixty-nine,  sevent3^-four 
and  seventy-seven. 

Our  subject  was  born  and  raised  on  a  farm,  and  in 
that  day  it  meant  very  much  hard  work  and  many  dis- 
advantages. He  could  do  all  manner  of  farm  work,  and 
did  not  know  much  else.  The  country  was  new,  the 
people  were  all  about  on  the  same  plane,  and  all  labor- 
ing to  clear  off  farms.  His  early  associates,  as  a  nat- 
ural consequence,  were  farmers'  boys  and  girls,  not  vic- 
ious, but  uncultured,  unambitious,  and  persons  whoknew 
but  little  of  the  world,  besides  the  little  incidents  which 
now  and  then  came  up  in  the  usual  rounds  of  farm  life. 
Although,  as  said  before,  these  parents  were  not  Chris- 
tians, they  were  very  careful  to  see  that  their  boy  did 
not  go  into  bad  company.  He  saw  but  little  of  the 
busy,  active  world  around  him;  in  fact,  did  not  know 


450  JONATHAN  WEAVER, 

that  there  was  any.  Now  and  then  he  saw  a  newspaper, 
but  had  no  access  to  books  suitable  to  boys.  The  great 
library  of  children's  literature  which  greets  us  to-day 
had  not  then  been  written.  The  schools  of  that  time 
were  very  poor,  and  even  these  could  only  be  enjoyed 
for  three  months  in  the  year.  In  writing  of  his  early 
school  days  at  one  time,  he  says : 

"In  those  days  schoolhouses  were  built  of  round 
logs  with  a  huge  fireplace  in  one  end,  around  which 
might  have  been  seen  from  twenty  to  forty  red  '  wom- 
ises,'  each  boy  holding  in  his  hand  a  copy  of  the  United 
States  spelling  book,  or  else  had  had  his  A,  B,  C*s 
pasted  on  \x> paddle,  and  what  added  to  the  interest  of 
this  scene  was  the  cracking  of  the  whip  over  their 
backs,  causing  them  to  make  some  tremendous  jumps 
(I  speak  from  experience).  The  teachers  in  those  days, 
or  at  least  the  majority  of  them,  had  never  been 
through  what  was  then  the  standing  arithmetic,  the 
Western  Calculator.  Indeed,  it  was  not  necessary  they 
should,  for  when  a  young  man  had  ciphered  to  the  '  sin- 
gle rule  of  three,'  he  was  considered  a  kind  of  gradu- 
ate. These  days,  however,  have  passed  away  ;  new 
and  splendid  schoolhouses  have  been  built ;  well  quali- 
fied teachers  are  now  necessary.  All  things  considered, 
we  are  now  far  in  advance  of  what  we  were  in  the  daj's 
of  yore.  Spelling,  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic 
were  all  the  teachers  pretended  to  teach.  The  reading 
books  were  the  spelling  book  and  the  New  Testament. 
The  benches  on  which  they  sat  were  made  of  small 
trees  split  through  the  center,  and  sticks  put  in  them 
for  legs."  In  a  school  of  this  kind  he  learned  to  read, 
write  and  cipher. 

There  were  no  churches  witliin  reach  of  him.  He 
never  attended  churcli   on  Sunday  until  he  was  four 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     451 

teen  years  of  age  ;  occasionally  he  would  hear  preaching 
on  a  week-day  evening,  and  this  often  at  his  father's 
house.  This  was  not  at  all  a  regular  thing,  but  hap- 
pened when  a  Methodist  or  United  Brethren  preacher 
would  pass  that  way.  Both  his  intellectual  and  spiritual 
culture  were  badly  neglected.  '  When  he  did  listen  to 
preaching  it  moved  him,  but  he  did  not  know  what  to  do. 
There  was  but  one  Christian  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
he  was  not  blamed  for  practicing  it  very  much.  Hoav 
meager  the  advantages,  and  how  great  the  disadvan- 
tages that  seemed  to  surround  his  pathway !  His  asso- 
ciates and  companions  were  no  better  off  than  he 
was,  so  there  was  not  much  help  from  them.  With 
this  httle  light  and  this  great  darkness,  there  was 
never  a  time  when  he  did  not  have  a  kind  of  convic- 
tion that  he  ought  to  be  a  Christian,  but  what  to  do 
and  how  to  do  he  did  not  know,  and  there  was  no  one 
to  lead  him.  Is  it  at  all  strange  tliat  under  such  cir- 
cumstances one  should  make  blunders  ? 

When  about  fifteen  years  of  age,  his  father  having 
given  security  on  some  notes  was  compelled  to  pay 
them,  and  so  lost  his  little  property.  He  sold  his 
farm  and  bought  a  small,  poor  farm  in  another  com- 
munity. It  seemed  a  very  great  calamity,  and  from 
the  human  standpoint  was  a  calamity,  but  the  son 
afterward  looked  upon  it  as  one  of  the  disguised  bless- 
ings w^hich  sometimes  come  to  uS.  God's  messengers 
do  not  always  come  to  us  with  pleasant  faces. 

"All  God's  angels  come  to  us  disguised. 
Sorrow  and  sickness,  poverty  and  death. 
One  after  other  lift  their  frowning  masks. 
And  we  behold  the  seraph's  face  beneath, 
All  radiant  with  the  glory  and  tlie  calm 
Of  having  looked  upon  the  face  of  God." 


^&' 


452  JONATHAN  WEAVER, 

By  this  change  the  famih^  found  its  way  into  a 
new  community,  and  were  surrounded  with  new  envi- 
ronments. The  opportunities  for  education  were  not 
much  improved,  but  the  character  of  the  schools  was 
some  better,  and  the  teachers  much  better.  Still  the 
family  was  poor.  Misfortune  had  crossed  their  path, 
the  labor  of  the  boy  was  needed  on  the  farm,  and  he 
could  not  get  more  than  three  months  of  schooling 
during  the  year.  His  desire  for  more  knowledge  began 
to  grow  stronger,  but  the  advanced  schools  were  very 
few,  and  his  means  were  limited.  He  busied  himself 
in  reading  what  books  he  could  find,  and  picking  up 
such  knowledge  as  came  in  his  way.  When  he  was 
about  twenty -one  years  of  age,  by  a  hard  struggle  and 
by  the  little  help  which  his  mother  could  give  him 
(his  father  now  being  dead),  he  was  enabled  to  attend  a 
five  months'  term  at  a  Presbyterian  academy,  located 
at  Hagerstown,  Ohio.  This  was  the  sum  total  of  his 
education,  so  far  as  the  schools  were  concerned.  Had 
he  been  properly  urged  and  encouraged,  he  might  have 
done  much  better,  but  nearly  all  of  the  ministers  of 
that  day  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  were  opposed 
to  anything  like  a  collegiate  education,  so  there  was  no 
one  to  help  him  in  his  struggle  toward  a  higher  culture 
of  his  powers.  What  he  has  gathered  since  that  time 
has  been  by  dint  of  much  reading  and  constant,  per- 
sistent personal  effort.  He  has  made  good  use  of  the 
spare  moments  which  he  could  take  from  the  duties  of 
a  busy,  poorly-paid  ministry,  and  is,  to-day,  a  man  of 
extensive  reading  and  of  general  information. 

He  was  married  to  Miss  Iveziah  L.  Robb,  of  Mahon- 
ing county,  Ohio,  on  the  24tli  of  Februar}'",  1S4Y.  They 
lived  pleasantly  and  iiopefully   together  until  she  was 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     453 

removed  by  death  about  four  years  after.  She  was  an 
earnest,  active  Christian  woman,  and  died  in  great 
peace.  Two  daughters  were  born  to  them,  both  now 
living  and  both  married.  In  1854  he  was  again  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Mary  E.  Forsyth,  of  Canton,  Stark  county, 
Ohio.  To  them  have  been  born  nine  children,  five  sons 
and  four  daughters ;  one  son  and  one  daughter  are 
dead. 

In  early  life  he  felt  the  need  of  salvation,  but  hav- 
ing no  one  to  teach  him  the  way,  and  no  special  encour- 
agements about  him  to  enter  on  such  a  life,  he  made  no 
direct  effort  to  do  better.  When  about  seventeen  years 
of.  age  he  was  permitted  to  attend  a  camp  meeting. 
He  had  no  special  aim  in  going  save  to  see  what  was 
done  at  such  places.  He  had  never  in  all  his  life  seen 
what  was  then  called  a  "  mourner's  bench,"  but  had 
heard  of  it  from  others  and  knew  what  it  meant.  So 
far  as  he  understood  the  matter,  he  had  no  doubt  as  to 
the  truth  of  revealed  religion,  but  he  had  no  clearly 
defined  idea  of  what  was  meant  by  a  life  of  devotion 
to  God,  and  how  that  life  could  be  entered  upon.  His 
mother's  devoted  reading  of  the  Bible  and  her  conver- 
sation with  him  concerning  it  had  given  him  a  great 
reverence  for  the  Scriptures.  This  likel}^  saved  him 
from  many  doubts  which  otherwise  he  might  have  had. 
The  camp  meeting  was  well  attended,  and  was  con- 
ducted as  in  those  days,  by  singing,  praying,  preaching, 
exhortino:  and  shoutino^.  The  first  time  the  mourner's 
bench  was  offered  he  accepted  the  invitation  and  went 
forward.  ISTo  one  asked  him  to  go,  and  he  could 
hardly  at  the  time  tell  why  he  went.  He  had  all 
along  felt  that  he  should  do  something,  but  w^hat  that 
somethingf  was  he  did  not  know.     This  was  the  first 


454  JONATHAN  WEAVER 

opportunity  he  had  ever  had,  and  he  improved  it. 
During  the  progress  of  the  meeting  he  united  with  the 
United  Brethren  Church,  but  he  did  not  experience  a 
change  of  heart  until  1841.  He  was  fearful  when  he 
returned  from  the  camp  meeting  that  his  father  would 
be  displeased  with  his  course,  as  his  father  was  not  at 
this  time  a  Christian.  The  boj'  determined  that  if  pos- 
sible he  would  work  harder  and  be  more  diligent  than 
ever  before,  so  he  would  have  no  justifiable  reason  to 
find  fault  with  him  because  of  the  step  he  had  taken. 
Some  three  or  four  months  after  this  the  father  and 
son  were  at  work  in  the  barn.  The  boy  did  not  know 
that  the  father  had  heard  of  the  step  he  had  taken, ,  for 
he  had  said  nothing  to  him  about  it.  "While  at  work 
the  father  addressed  the  boy,  saying  he  had  understood 
he  had  made  a  start  in  religion.  The  boy  was  alarmed, 
for  he  did  not  know  what  was  coming  next.  To  his 
surprise  the  father  said  to  him,  that  as  he  had  made  a 
start  in  religion  he  did  not  want  him  to  do  as  so  many 
others  had  done,  pursue  the  matter  for  a  time  and  then 
give  it  up,  but  he  wanted  him  to  stick  to  it.  This  gave 
the  boy  much  encouragement.  He  needed  some  help,  for 
he  had  not  yet  entered  into  the  light.  He  had  contin- 
ued seeking  for  some  six  months  from  the  time  he 
united  with  the  church  before  he  had  the  courage  to 
confess  that  he  was  saved.  This  long  struggle  grew 
out  of  the  fact  that  he  knew  so  little  about  the  first 
principles  of  religion,  and  had  no  one  to  give  him  the 
proper  instruction.  At  this  time  there  was  not  a 
Christian  in  the  family.  Some  of  his  brothers  and 
sisters  were  seeking  Christ,  but  they  were  in  no  condi- 
tion to  help  him.  Within  a  3^ear  from  the  time  he 
started,  his  parents,  two  of  his  l)rothers  and  four  of  his 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    455 

sisters  were  members  of  the   church.     This  made  a 
wonderful  change  in  affairs  at  home. 

When  about  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  was  elected 
class  leader,  and  served  for  the  space  of  two  years. 
From  the  time  of  his  conversion  he  felt  impressed  that 
he  ought  to  enter  the  ministry,  but  he  had  no  special 
qualification  for  the  work.  He  read  what  he  could, 
and  studied  more  or  less  when  about  his  work.  Wlien 
twenty  years  of  age,  he  received  license  to  exhort,  and 
in  six  months  after  was  licensed  to  preach.  During 
this  time  he  had  access  to  some  books.  The  youngest 
sister  was  married  to  a  young  minister,  and  by  his  help 
he  obtained  some  light  on  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel. 
His  first  exhortations  and  first  sermons,  if  sermons 
they  could  be  called,  were  studied  for  the  most  part 
while  following  the  plow.  The  conviction  grew  upon 
him  that  he  must  give  his  life  to  the  ministry,  but 
how  to  creditably  fill  such  a  place  he  could  not  see. 
He  was  poor  and  uneducated.  He  did  not  seem  to 
have  much  but  good  health,  a  strong  voice  and  a  good 
supply  of  zeal — all  desirable  qualifications  in  a  preach- 
er. As  already  mentioned,  he  spent  five  months  at  a 
Presbyterian  academ}^,  which  gave  him  a  little  start 
and  helped  him  to  form  some  better  habits  of  study. 
In  18,45  he  was  placed  on  a  circuit  by  the  presiding 
elder,  to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  a 
minister  who  was  in  bad  health.  During  the  year 
1-846,  he  taught  school  a  few  months,  and  labored  on  a 
farm  the  balance  of  the  3^ear.  In  February,  184Y,  he 
united  with  the  Muskingum  Conference  at  the  session 
held  at  Union  Chapel,  Stark  county,  Ohio.  Bishop 
Russel  presided.  At  this  conference  he  received  his 
first  regular  appointment.  The  name  of  the  charge 
was  Lake  Erie  mission. 


456  JONATHAN  WEAVER, 

In  a  sketch  of  this  period  given  in  the  Telescope  of 
of  1860,  page  195,  he  8113-8,  '*  The  mission  was  200 
miles  around,  had  seventeen  appointments,  and 
there  were  twenty-three  members.  I  was  young  and 
fidl  of  ho])e.  My  advantages  had  been  very  poor  for  I 
was  raised  under  the  okl  constitution,  when  men  ahnost 
universally  opposed  an  educated  ministry,  I  had  to. 
make  the  best  possible  out  of  my  ignorance.  When  the 
time  came  to  start  for  the  mission,  which  was  distant 
over  100  miles,  I  felt  some  misgivings,  but  would 
not  suffer  even  my  mother  to  know  that  my  mind 
was  in  the  least  cloudy.  I  packed  up  my  effects 
in  an  old-fashioned  pair  of  saddle  bags,  and  took  hasty 
leave  of  home  and  friends,  and  set  my  face  toward  tin; 
north.  The  roads  were  exceedingly  muddy,  as  it  was 
in  the  spring  of  the  year,  but  after  a  fe\v  day's  hard 
riding  I  reached  the  first  appointment,mnd  stopped 
with  John  Goodin,  now  in  Iowa,  who  liVed  on  the  mis- 
sion and  had  traveled  it  the  preceding  3'ear.  With 
this  good  brother  I  renuiined  for  a  da}^  or  two,  and 
then  set  out  in  search  of  the  few  scattered  sheep,  which 
were  spread  over  six  or  seven  counties;  but  thanks  to 
my  good  luck,  I  found  every  one  of  them  in  the  couise 
of  a  month.  Being  now  fairh^  addressed  to  my  work, 
I  laid  in  with  all  my  might,  and  soon  had  the  number 
of  appointments  increased  to  twenty-three,  which  I 
filled  regularly  every  three  week8.">He  received  eighty 
members  into  the  church  during  the  year  and  $80 
of  salary  for  his  services. 

His  mother  died  May  9,  1867,  at  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-seven  years.  In  a  note  in  the  Telescope  con- 
cerning her  death,  he  says:  ^'Twenty  years  ago  I  took 
leav^e  of  m}'  mother  and  her  home  to  enter  my  first 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     457 

field  of  labor.  Young  and  inexperienced,  I  scarcely 
knew  what  to  do.  What  my  feelings  were  as  mile  af- 
ter mile  was  left  between  myself  and  home,  I  need  not 
attempt  to  describe.  One  thing,  however,  gave  me 
consolation,  and  has  given  me  comfort  many  a  time. 
I  knew  that  one  who  lived  near  to  God  was  praying  for 
me.  Some  one  might  say  this  was  but  a  trifle,  but 
to  me  it  was  a  blessed  consolation.  During  these 
twenty  years  that  I  have  spent  in  the  ministry,  I  have 
always  held  sacred  in  my  memory  this  thought,  Mother 
prays  for  me.  You  may  call  me  weak,  but  I  presume 
to  go  to  my  graA^e  with  the  fond  and  close!}'  cherished 
recollections  of  a  kind,  Christian  mother.  *  *  «  j 
do  not  claim  that  mother  was  perfect,  but  this  I  will 
say,  that  for  twenty  years  I  have  not  seen  nor  heard  of 
a  fault.  She  was  acquainted  with  the  H0I3'  Scrij^tures 
as  but  few  are.  I  do  not  remember  ever  asking  for  a 
passage  of  the  Scriptures,  but  what  she  could  turn  to  it 
at  once." 

The  Universalists  troubled  him  some,  especially 
when  they  found  that  he  did  not  know  much  about 
their  views.  The  result  was  that  he  was  compelled  to 
,  inform  himself  concerning  their  peculiarities,  and 
when  this  was  done  they  became  a  little  more  shy  of 
him.  He  suffered  considerably  during  the  winter  from 
exposure,  as  he  was  not  accustomed  to  lake  winds, 
and  at  each  round  he  had  to  travel  about  forty  miles 
along  the  lake  shore.  At  times,  when  he  awakened 
in  the  morning,  he  would  find  half  an  inch  of  snow  or 
more  on  his  bed.  It  was  a  year  of  trial  and  struggle, 
yet  of  great  profit.  He  learned  more  of  human 
nature,  both  in  himself  and  others,  than  he  had  ever 
known  before. 


458  JONATHAN  WEAVER, 

An  annoying  circumstance  occurred  during  the  year. 
He  was  invited  to  preach  at  a  place  about  seven  miles 
south  of  Cleveland.  There  had  never  been  but  one 
sermon  preached  there,  and  but  one  man  who  made 
any  profession  of  religion.  About  100  persons 
came  to  hear  him.  The  congregation  desired  to  have 
him  return,  and  he  announced  a  meeting-  in  three  weeks. 
At  this  juncture  a  large  man,  who  proved  to  be  a  justice 
of  the  peace  and  an  infidel,  arose  and  said  there  should 
be  no  more  preaching.  At  the  appointed  time  "Weaver 
returned  to  fill  the  appointment,  and  the  house  was  full. 
As  the  preacher  was  about  to  begin  "  the  'squire  en- 
tered and  gave  a  harangue.  He  excited  a  little  Irishman 
by  some  of  his  remarks,  and  he  retaliated.  They  bandied 
words  for  a  time,  when  the  'squire  commanded  him  to 
sit  down  or  he  would  make  him  smart  for  what  he  had 
said.  At  this  rather  serious  time  the  Irishman's  wife, 
who  had  been  a  quiet  spectator,  jumped  to  her  feet  and 
said,  '  Faith,  Davy,  you  may  as  well  die  for  an  ould 
shape  as  a  lamb !  just  give  him  a  little.'  '  Faith,  and 
I  will,'  says  Davy,  whereupon  he  felled  the  infidel  to 
the  floor,  then  took  him  by  the  feet,  dragged  him  out 
of  the  house  and  administered  to  him  sucli  treatment 
as  he  judged  he  deserved.  All  this  time  the  preacher 
stood  in  his  place,  hymn  book  in  hand,  secretly  wishing 
he  was  somewhere  else  at  that  moment.  After  the 
fiffhtins:  was  over  he  went  out  of  the  house,  and  the 
first  person  he  met  was  the  Irishman's  wife,  who  had 
stood  hard  by  Davy  all  through  the  fight.  Said  she  : 
' Mr.  Preacher,  and  wasn't  that  good  for  him?'  The 
preacher  thought  it  was.  He  was  not  in  good  health, 
and  would  have  gone  home,  but  the  people  insisted,  and 
some  said  he  must  preach.     He  returned  and  preached 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     459 

several  times  after  that,  but  the  'squire  did  not  molest 
tliem  any  more,  while  Davy  and  his  wife  were  always 
on  hand,  and  paid  their  share  of  the  expenses." 

The  next  year,  which  was  only  a  part  of  a  year,  he 
traveled  Mt.  Yernon  mission,  in  northeast  Ohio.  He 
had  but  moderate  success  this  year,  as  the  next  session 
of  the  conference  came  in  about  seven  months.  He  re- 
ceived for  his  work  $60.  At  the  close  of  this  year, 
November  4,  1S47,  he  was  ordered  by  Bishop  Gloss- 
brenner  to  Warner's  Chapel,  Stark  county,  Ohio.  In 
those  years  ministers  were  not  required  to  pass  through 
a  regular  course  of  reading,  nor  were  they  to  remain 
three  years  on  probation,  as  now,  before  they  could  be 
ordained.  All  things  were  common  then,  very  com- 
mon. At  this  conference  he  was  assigned  to  Fowler 
circuit,  eastern  Ohio.  He  had  good  success  and  re- 
ceived for  his  work  $175.  At  this  time  he  was  a  mar- 
i:ied  man.  November,  1849,  the  annual  conference  was 
held  in  Berlin,  Mahoning  county,  Ohio,  and  he  Avas 
assigned  to  New  Eumley  station,  Harrison  county, 
Ohio.  Here  he  remained  two  years,  and  had  fair  suc- 
cess.    His  salary  each  year  was  about  $260.« 

In  November,  1851,  the  conference  was  held  in 
Canaan,  Wayne  county,  Ohio.  At  this  conference  he 
was  elected  presiding  elder,  and  was  placed  on  the  New 
Rumley  district.  He  was  reelected  three  times,  serv- 
ing two  3^ears  on  the  New  Rumley  district  and  two  on 
the  Dover  district.  His  salary  was  about  $300  each 
year. 

In  1855  the  Annual  Conference  was  held  at  Bethel, 
Holmes  county,  Ohio.  At  this  meeting  he  refused  to 
be  reelected  presiding  elder,  and  was  placed  on  Crooked 
Run  circuit.     Here  he  had  good  success,  receiving  over 


460  JONATHAN  WEAVER, 

100  into  the  church,  and  about  $300  salary;  In  1856  he 
^\"ds  assigned  to  Dover  Mission  station,  and  had  a  good 
year,  with  over  100  accessions.  In  1857  he  was  a  del- 
egate to  the  General  Conference,  held  at  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.  In  June  of  that  year  he  was  elected  soliciting 
agent  of  Otterbein  University.  In  November  of  that 
year,  he  entered  upon  the  work  of  the  agency,  and  con- 
tinued in  it  for  eight  years,  except  a  part  of  one  year, 
in  which  he  served  as  presiding  elder  in  his  old  con- 
ference. He  entered  into  the  work  of  the  agency,  not 
because  of  love  for  the  work,  nor  because  he  felt  so 
well  prepared  for  it,  but  because  he  felt  a  great  interest 
ill  the  cause  of  education.  He  had  been  a  trustee  of 
Otterbein  University  for  several  years,  learned  some- 
thing of  its  needs,  and  felt  like  doing  \vhatever  he 
could  to  build  up  the  institution. 

When  he  went  into  the  agency  he  was  in  the  prime 
of  life,  about  thirty -three  years  of  age.  He  knew 
enough  of  the  church  to  know  its  needs  along  educa- 
tional lines,  and  he  had  the  skill  and  patience  and  per- 
sistency to  make  his  case  to  the  membership.  They 
were  not  enthusiastically  in  favor  of  colleges.  They 
did  not  know  very  much  about  them,  and  sometimes 
those  who  knew  the  least  were  the  most  active  in  their 
o})position.  He  was  a  kind-hearted,  genial-spirited 
man,  and  this  helped  him  to  reach  the  people.  The 
time  when  he  entered  upon  the  work  was  an  unpropi- 
tious  one.  The  managers  of  Otterbein  Universit}^  had 
no  previous  experience  in  building  colleges.  An  at- 
tempt was  made  to  endow  the  college  by  the  sale  of 
scholarships.  These  were  sold  at  a  ruinously  low  price, 
and  the  plan  could  not  succeed.  Some  of  those  who 
favored  the  college  and  gave  it  their  support,  did  so 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.     461 

with  the  expressed  understanding  that  a  manual  labor 
department  was  to  be  associated  with  it.  They  pur- 
chased scholarships  with  this  in  view,  and  when  this 
was  abandoned  they  refused  to  pay  their  scholarships. 
One  of  the  earnest  advocates  of  this  method  writes : 
"  I  had  a  conviction  at  the  meeting  of  the  board  of 
1868  that  the  system  of  manual  labor  had  no  seat  in 
the  affections  of  the  leading  spirits  of  Westerville.  I 
saw  in  a  clear  light  that  manual  labor  was  not  cher- 
ished by  them,  and  it  could  not  prosper  with  the  oppo- 
sition felt  in  heart  and  expressed.  There  never  was, 
neither  in  heart  nor  in  practice,  a  S3^stem  of  manuai  la- 
bor at  Westerville  more  than  at  any  other  college,  for 
an  industrious  man  can  find  work  always.  I  had  been 
deceived- myself ,  and  gave  notice  to  the  public." 

Weaver,  as  agent,  was  called  upon  in  the  public 
prints  and  by  the  friends  wherever  he  went  to  defend 
what  the  board  did.  He  says :  "  I  was  not  immediatelj^ 
connected  with  the  board  until  within  the  last  two 
years,  vet  I  have  the  utmost  confidence  in  the  brethren 
who  went  out  in  the  first  place  to  sell  scholarships,  that 
they  did  not  attempt  to  deceive  the  people  or  take  any 
undue  advantage  of  them.  It  was  confidently  hoped 
that  a  system  of  manual  labor  might  be  connected  with 
the  school  so  as  to  make  it  a  blessing  to  all  concerned- 
but  in  casting  about,  it  was  discovered  by  a  majority  of 
the  board  of  trustees  that  a  system  requiring  all  to 
labor,  summer  and  winter,  was  impracticable  for  the 
present.  Every  man  must  know  that  a  law  requiring 
all  to  labor,  must,  in  order  to  be  consistent  with  itself, 
bind  the  institution  to  furnish  the  necessary  amount  of 
labor.  Sit  down  a  moment  and  reflect.  Take  400  stu- 
dents with  a  capital  of  but  a  few  thousand  dollars,  and 


462  JONATHAN  WEAVER, 

how   would   3^ou  expect  to  furnish   them  with   labor 
summer  and  winter  ?  " 

There  were  some  things  in  connection  with  the 
agency  work  which  were  pleasant  and  profitable  and 
some  unpleasant.  Even  at  this  day  he  thinks  it  w^as 
the  most  trying  church  position  which  he  ever  tried  to 
fill.  By  means  of  this  he  learned  many  things  in 
human  nature  wliich  it  was  valuable  to  know.  He 
formed  a  general  acquaintance  wnth  our  people  in  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  Virginia.  He  made  a 
very  fair  success  of  the  work,  and  gave  satisfaction  to 
his  employer. 

Mr.  Weaver's  education,  so  far  as  the  training  of 
the  schools  was  concerned,  w^as  very  limited.  He  had 
a  taste  for  writing,  and  spent  w^hat  time  he  could  spare 
from  other  duties  in  writing  on  various  topics,  not  for 
publication,  but  for  his  own  improvement.  He  kept 
up  a  large  correspondence,  mostly  for  the  purpose  of 
mental  culture,  and  found  it  very  beneficial  to  him. 
He  had  a  taste  for  discussion,  and  so  was  easily  led  into 
the  field  of  controversy.  He  had  a  number  of  public 
discussions  with  ministers  of  other  churches  on  doc- 
trinal points.  This  made  it  necessary  to  read  and 
study  more  along  these  special  lines  than  he  otherwise 
would  have  done.  It  was  a  gain  to  him  to  be  subjected 
to  this  kind  of  pressure.  He  has  been  a  very  prolific 
writer  for  our  church  paper,  and  he  has  a  very  skillful 
way  of  putting  his  points.  He  keeps  himself  cool,  col- 
lected, well  poised,  and  has  the  advantage  of  his  oppon-, 
ent.  His  style  is  clear,  simple,  easily  understood  and 
strong.  He  keeps  his  temper  well  under  control  in  his 
writings,  and  there  is  a  little  vein  of  the  humorous 
running  through  it,  when  the  subject  will  allow.     If 


NI>fETEENTH  UISIIOl'  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.     4G3 

there  be  any  thing  ludicrous  in  connection  with  an  event 
or  object,  he  is  sure  to  see  it.  Take  the  following  as  a 
specimen  of  his  newspaper  correspondence.  He  was 
on  his  way  to  Illinois.  Beyond  Lafayette  his  car  went 
off  the  track,  turned  over  twice  and  settled  bottom  side 
up.     He  says: 

"I  had  often  speculated  in  my  own  mind  as  to 
what  I  should  do  in  a  case  of  this  kind.  I  had  come 
to  a  conclusion,  and  yet  it  was  not  certain  how  it 
would  be.  But  it  so  happened,  I  did  just  as  I  had 
thought  to  do.  When  I  found  that  the  car  was  off 
the  track,  I  took  firm  hold  of  the  arms  of  the  seat, 
and  held  on  until  the  car  was  steady.  I  can  not  de- 
scribe the  circles  I  may  have  made  during  the  revolu- 
tions, but,  judging  from  my  own  length  and  the  height 
and  width  of  the  car,  there  must  have  been  some 
sliglit  interference  of  the  extremities.  However  this 
ma}^  have  been  when  the  car  was  steady,  I  found  I  was 
still  hanging  to  the  arm  of  the  seat,  which  was  then 
overhead.  The  rest  were  all  piled  up  among  the  bag- 
gage, broken  glass  and  seats.  Some  of  the  men 
rushed  out  through  the  windows,  which  was  all  of  no 
use.  They  could  much  more  readily  have  gone  out  at 
the  door.  I  gathered  up  my  baggage  and  went  out  as 
regularly  as  possible,  and  found,  on  examination,  that 
I  was  not  in  any  way  injured,  not  even  scratched.'" 
"We  have  sometimes  wondered  whether  this  may  have 
suggested  to  hira  his  work  on  ''  Divine  Providence." 

The  following  occurred  while  a  college  agent.  He 
had  some  distance  to  walk  in  order  to  reach  a  pro- 
tracted meeting.  He  says  :  "  On  the  way  I  was  over- 
taken by  a  boy,  who  was  returning  from  a  saw-mill.  I 
asked  permission  to  ride,  which  he  granted.     There 


464  JONATHAN  WEAVEK, 

was  no  box  on  the  sled,  nothing  to  sit  on  but  the  naked 
benches,  but  I  concluded  that  this  was  better  than  walk- 
ing, as  the  roads  were  in  bad  condition  for  footmen. 
The  team  was  not  as  good  as  some  I  have  seen,  but  by 
almost  constant  pounding,  the  driver  managed  to  keep 
up  something  of  a  motion.  On  the  way  we  met  a  num- 
ber of  persons  who  were  not  a  little  amused  at  our  ap- 
pearance. The  driver,  being  something  of  a  philosopher, 
paid  no  attention  to  their  grinning.  On  he  went,  dash- 
ing and  slashing  at  the  rapid  rate  of  not  less  than  one 
and  one-half  miles  per  hour.  Finally  he  drew  up  the 
reins  and  informed  me  that  he  was  at  home.  I  thanked 
liim  two  or  three  times  for  his  kindness,  and  then  went 
on  my  way  considerabl}^  refreshed." 

This  disposition  to  see  the  amusing  side  of  things, 
even  of  annoying  things,  was  an  aid  to  him  in  getting 
over  hard  places.  A  number  of  these  occurred  to  him 
while  in  the  arduous  work  of  a  college  agent,  and  after 
a  time  they  came  to  the  eyes  of  a  reading  public.  In 
1859  he  reports  the  following  :  "  I  must  report  my  trip 
from  West  Unity  to  Strj^ker.  I  went  to  the  postofflce 
where  the  hack  always  stopped,  expecting  to  see-  a 
decent  looking  vehicle,  but  alas,  it  was  nothing  superior 
to  an  old  two-horse  wagon,  Avith  a  sort  of  covering 
which  had  all  the  appearance  of  antiquity.  It  was  dif- 
ficult to  keep  down  my  natural  risibilities.  I  looked 
first  this  way  then  that  way.  Presently  the  driver, 
with  seeming  pride  bawled  out :  '  All  aboard  for 
Stryker.'  I  crawled  in,  there  being  no  other  passen- 
gers going  that  way,  and,  horrid  to  relate,  the  roof  of 
that  old,  dirty  wagon  was  so  low  I  could  not  sit 
with  m}'^  hat  on,  and  the  da}'^  being  somewhat  damp,  I 
dare  not  ride  with  it  off  •  so,  humiliating  as  it  was,  I 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     465 

crept  in  behind  the  seat,  partl}^  sitting  and,  partly 
kneeling  in  ahnost  any  kind  of  shape.  In  this  way  I  • 
rode  seven  miles,  and  then,  to  add  to  the  insult,  the 
driver'  charged  me  half  a  dollar.  It  is  a  burning  shame 
that  men  vrho  pretend  to  keej)  up  accommodations 
for  travelers  should  have  such  a  vehicle  and  then  charge 
such  an  enormous  price.     The  judgment  will  siV^ 

In  the  Telescope  for  October  13,  1858,  we  find  the 
following,  written,  no  doubt,  when  the  author  was  in  a 
happy  mood  :  "  Not  long  since,  in  one  of  the  towns  of 
northern  Ohio,  you  might  have  seen  a  tall,  slender 
man,  some  six  feet  four  and  one-half  inches  in  height, 
hurriedly  passing  through  the  streets,  sometimes  walk- 
ing, sometimes  running.  Ilis  long,  lean  form  no 
doubt  excited  the  levity  of  those  who  saw  him.  All 
this  did  not  in  the  least  deter  the  gigantic  runner. 
On  and  on  he  sped  and,  when  almost  out  of  breath,  he 
reached  the  depot.  Looking  around  him,  he  espied  the 
iron  horse  backed  on  a  switch.  '  All  safe,'  he  said  to 
himself,  '  I  have  time  enough  yet.  I  will  take  my 
breath  a  little,  and  then  I  will  find  a  suitable  seat.' 
Some  one  standing  by  said  to  the  stranger,  '  You  need 
not  be  in  a  hurry,  you  can  get  in  when  they  back  to 
the  platform.'  Hearing  this  the  stranger  stood  still, 
with  his  carpet  sack  in  one  hand  and  his  cloak  in  the 
other.  Presently  there  was  a  sharp  whistle  and  th(? 
train  moved  slowly  on,  but  alas,  when  too  late,  he 
made  the  mortifying  discovery  that  the  train  was 
gone.  '  Where,'  he  exclaimed  with  evident  emotion, 
'  Where  is  the  man  who  said  there  was  time  enough 
yet  ? '     lie  was  not  to  he  found.''''  ' 

When  acting  as  college  agent  he  had  occasion  to 
teU  the  following,  which  will  bear  repeating :     "  Some 


406  JONATHAN    WEAVER, 


men  think  and  act  like  the  Irishman.  One  da3%  when  at 
church,  the  deacon  called  on  him  for  some  money  for 
missionary  purposes.  He  excused  himself,  but  the  dea- 
con urged  him  to  give.  Tlie  Irishman  answered  he  must 
pay  his  debts  first  and  then  he  would  give.  The  dea- 
con reminded  him  that  he  owed  the  Lord  a  great  deal, 
and  ought  to  pay  Him.  He  answered  :  '  Faith,  dea- 
con, I  know  it ;  but  then  He  donH  crowd  me  like  my 
other  creditors^  " 

When  out  on  one  of  his  soliciting  tours  for  the  col- 
lege, he  was  induced  to  write  the  following :  "  I  have 
traveled  considerably  in  different  directions,  but  I  do 
not  remember  ever  seeing  larger  '  hoops  '  than  I  have 
seen  this  trip.  I  do  not  mind  seeing  small  hoops,  but 
wdien  they  are  from  sixteen  to  twenty-one  feet  in  cir- 
cumference, I  think  they  are  rather  large.  It  does 
look  so  funny  to  see  a  lady  hooped  out  in  full  style, 
presenting  something  of  the  appearance  of  an  Egyp- 
tian pyramid,  and  then  by  her  side  a  gentleman  with 
pantaloons  on  just  as  tight  as  the  bark  on  a  cherry 
tree.  If  the  contrast  is  as  great  in  substance  as  it  is  iti 
appearance,  their  union  is  a  plain  violation  of  the  in- 
junction of  the  Apostle  :  '  Be  ye  not  unequally  yoked 
together.' " 

In  addition  to  the  fact  that  he  has  been  a  regular 
and  interesting  correspondent  of  the  different  church 
papers,  and  has  written  some  pamphlets,  he  has  writ- 
ten four  books  which  have  been  published  in  more 
permanent  form.  The  first  was  on  the  "  Resurrection 
of  the  Human  Body,"  which  met  with  a  very  good 
sale.  The  second  was  on  "  Divine  Providence,"  which 
also  met  with  favor  in  the  church.  The  third,  a 
smaller  volume   on    "Ministerial  Salary,"     was    well 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST,     467 

received,  and  met  with  fair  sale  both  in  and  out 
of  the  church.  The  fourtli  was  on  "  Universal  Res- 
toration." This  was  the  largest  book  he  wrote,  and 
required  more  labor  to  prepare  it  than  did  either 
of  the  others,  and  it  also  met  with  a  fair 
sale.  He  wrote  another  work  on  "Christian  Bap- 
tism," but  did  not  publish  it.  He  is  now  editing 
a  work  on  "  Christian  Theology,"  made  up  of  contri- 
butions from  his'own  and  other  pens  on  the  various 
branches  of  this  subject.  The  author  has  in  his  posses- 
sion the  manuscript  of  an  elementar}^  work  on  theol- 
ogy which  may  some  time  see  the  light.  When  we 
remember  that  all  this  writing  has  been  done  while 
busy  in  the  ministry,  with  liis  mind  harrassed  and  per- 
plexed with  college  finance,  or  when  the  care  of  the 
churches  was  upon  him,  we  may  well  know  the  bishop 
here  has  not  been  idle. 

In  1851,  at  the  first  General  Conference  he  attend- 
ed, he  received  commendable  support  for  the  office  of 
bishop.  Why  it  was  done  he  could  not  tell,  as  he  was 
unknown  to  most  of  the  delegates  until  he  went  to  this 
conference.  In  1861,  at  the  General  Conference  held 
in  Westerville,  he  was  elected  bishop  for  the  Pacific 
Coast  district,  but,  on  account  of  his  large  famil}^  and 
tlie  small  salary,  it  was,  in  his  judgment,  not  best  for 
him  to  go.  So  he  resigned,  and  Rev.  D.  Shuck  was 
elected.  In  1865,  at  the  General  Conference  held  in 
Iowa,  he  was  again  elected  bishop  and  placed  on  the 
East  Mississippi  district,  which  comprised  the  States 
of  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Michigan.  In  1869,  at  the 
General  Conference  held  in  Lebanon,  Pa.,  he  was  re- 
elected and  placed  on  the  East  district,  which  com- 
prised the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  eastern  Ohio,  Mary- 


468  JONATHAN    WEAVER, 

land,  Tennessee  and  Virginia.  Dui-ingthis  quadrennial, 
he  visited  the  Pacific  coast  and  held  the  conferences 
in  California,  Oregon  and  Washington  Territory,  trav- 
eling alDout  1,300  miles  by  stage.  At  the  conference 
in  Dayton,  in  18Y3,  he  was  again  elected  to  the  bishop's 
office  and  placed  on  the  Ohio  district,  which  included 
the  States  of  Ohio  and  Kentuck}^  also  the  Dominion  of 
Canada.  He  was  elected  again  at  the  conference  held 
in  Westfield,  111.,  in  ISYT,  and  placed  on  the  East  Mis- 
sissippi district.  In  1881,  at  the  conference  held  in  Lis- 
bon, Iowa,  he  was  again  reelected.  The  districts  were 
changed,  and  he  was  placed  on  the  Northwest  district, 
which  extended  from  Detroit,  Mich.,  west,  including 
Colorado.  In  1885,  at  the  General  Conference  held  in 
Fostoria,  Ohio,  he  was  elected  for  the  sixth  time.  The 
conference  arranged  the  plan  of  visitation  so  that  the 
bishops  exchange  districts  each  year.  During  this 
quadrennial  he  has  been  on  the  Ohio,  Eastern  and 
Southwest  districts,  and  is  now  in  the  NortliAvest 
district.  During  the  twenty -three  years  he  has  served 
as  bishop,  he  has  traveled  extensively  and  almost  con- 
stantly. In  the  providence  of  God  he  has  not  missed 
a  conference  in  all  these  years — not  very  rugged,  but 
nearly  always  able  to  go.  God  has  wonderfully  aided 
and  strengthened  him.  In  all  probability  he  has  dedi- 
cated more  houses  of  worship  than  any  man  in  the 
church.  His  experience  as  a  college  agent  in  securing 
money,  and  the  quiet  vein  of  humor  running  through 
his  nature  ma,k8  him  a  very  desirable  man  for  church 
dedications. 

The  bishop's  experience  as  a  college  agent  taught 
him  that  it  was  much  easier  to  found  a  colleffe  than  it 
was  to  build  it  up  and  endow  it  after  it  was  founded. 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      -409 

He,  therefore/discouraged  man}'  of  the  more  enthusi- 
astic of  our  brethren  in  the  conferences,  who  thought 
each  conference  should  have  its  own  school.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  to  move  in  the  matter  of  theological 
instruction.  As  many  of  tlie  influential  members  of 
the  church  were  not  up  to  his  standard  lie  had  to  make 
haste  slowly.  At  the  General  Conference  of  1865,  as  a 
beginning  in  this  line  of  work,  he  advocated  a  theolog- 
ical department  in  connection  with  the  colleges  of  the 
church.  He  was  opposed  by  some,  but  he  captured  his 
opponents  by  stipulating  that  it  should  only  include 
the  course  of  reading  prescribed  Iw  the  discipline.  To 
this,  of  course,  the  opposition  could  make  no  valid  ob- 
jection. When  1869  had  been  reached  the  church  had 
grown  so  fast  that  it  was  possible  to  establish  Unjon 
Biblical  Selninary. 

There  was  a  time  when  our  fathers  saw  a  great  evil 
in  the  use  of  instrumental  music  in  the  churches,  and 
the  members  were  forbidden  to  use  it.  At  this  same 
conference  he  labored  to  have  the  rule  made  advisory, 
and  it  was  so  made.  When  our  missionary  work  in 
Africa  looked  most  discouraging,  and  a  majority  of  the 
board  were  about  to  give  it  up.  Weaver  plead  for  its 
continuance,  and  urged  that  it  be  referred  to  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1869,  and  it  was  agreed  to  continue 
it.  Subsequent  years  have  shown  the  wisdom  of  the 
action.  We  believe  that  it  is  an  open  secret  that  Bishop 
Weaver,  more  than  any  one  man,  is  responsible  for  tlie 
suggestion  that  a  church  commission  shall  be  appointed 
that  shall  "  consider  our  present  confession  of  faith  and 
constitution,  and  prepare  such  a  form  of  belief  and  such 
amended  fundamental  rules  for  the  government  of  this 
church  in  the  future,  as  will,  in  their  judgment,  be  best 


470  JONATHAN    WEAVER, 

adapted  to  secure  its  growth  and  efficiency  in  the  work 
of  evangelizing  the  world."  He  has  always  been  in 
sympathy  with  all  the  advancements  the  church  has 
made,  and  while  not  always  in  the  lead,  he  has  aimed 
to  be  in  the  front  rank. 

In  reply  to  a  question  as  to  what  mistakes  he  had 
made,  if  any,  he  replies  :  "  In  looking  over  my  own 
life  I  see  many  defects.  Life  has  not  been  such  a  suc- 
cess as  I  hoped  to  make  it.  My  failures  have  been 
very  man}^  As  a  preacher,  I  have  fallen  far  below  my 
ideal ;  indeed,  in  everything  I  have  undertaken  I  have 
come  short  of  what  I  desired  to  accomplish.  Want  of 
means,  with  the  care  of  a  large  family,  together  with 
poor  advantages  in  early  life  has  hindered  me  very 
mach." 

Bishop  Weaver  is  now  about  sixty-five  years  of 
age.  For  more  than  two  score  years  he  has  been  a 
faithful  worker  in  and  for  the  church.  As  preacher, 
college  agent,  author,  bishop,  he  has  left  his  impress  on 
our  organization.  In  personal  appearance,  he  is  about  six 
feet  four  inches  high.  When  he  stretches  himself  to  his 
utmost  limits,  he  can,  without  much  difficulty,  look 
down  on  a  majority  of  the  men  whom  he  meets.  He 
is  of  slender  build,  stoops  a  little,  has  a  high  forehead, 
a  bright,  keen  eye,  with  a  merry  twinkle  in  it,  which 
shows  a  wealth  of  good  humor  underneath.  This 
helps  to  make  him  a  social,  companionable  man.  He 
knows  how  to  bend  before  the  storm  which  he  can  not 
check,  and  to  straighten  up  when  the  fury  has  passed 
by.  This  is  one  of  the  elements  which  helps  to  make 
him  a  good  presiding  officer,  for  by  a  little  pleasantry 
he  can  often  dissipate  the  forces  which  otherwise  might 
work  mischief. 


NINETEENTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHKEN  IN  CHKIST.     471 

He  is  justl}^  ranked  among  the  best  preachers  of  the 
church.  He  is  a  Bible  student,  and  fanuhar  with  the 
Scriptures.  He  aims  to  get  and  to  give  the  very  mar- 
row of  the  Gospel,  in  a  plain,  simple,  easy,  forcible  man- 
ner. He  is  thoroughly  natural  and  unartificial  in  all 
he  says  and  does.  His  hearers  never  have  any  doubt 
as  to  what  he  means,  nor  any  question  as  to  how  much 
of  it'  the  speaker  himself  believes.  When  at  his  best 
his  face  becomes  aglow  with  the  truth,  and  he  speaks 
as  though  he  had  just  come  from  the  presence  chamber 
of  the  Master  Himself,  and  felt  that  His  hand  was  still 
upon  him.  His  long  form  is  at  times  a  little  angular, 
and  his  gestures  not  always  in  keeping  with  the 
strictest  rules  of  oratory,  but  when  his  features  become 
lit  up  with  the  theme  which  he  presents,  all  minor  con- 
siderations are  forgotten  in  the  majesty  of  the  truth  it- 
self. No  matter  how  many  times  he  may  have  preached 
before,  he  is  always  sure  of  a  good  audience. 

When  he  was  a  college  agent  we  were  more  or  less 
associated  with  him,  and  knew  something  of  his  work. 
He  labored  at  a  time  when  there  was  much  to  dis- 
courage, both  in  the  financial  mana,g'ement  of  the  col- 
lege itself  and  on  the  part  of  the  people  who  had  not 
3^et  learned  to  properly  appreciate  the  work  which  he 
did.  But  with  all  these  difficulties  about  him.  he 
toiled  on  with  a  cheerful  spirit,  leaving  no'  unpleasant 
memories  behind  him. 

To  him  as  our  oldest  bishop  the  eves  of  the  church 
are  turned  to-day,  as  the  man  who  is  to  lead  them  out 
of  the  wilderness  condition  into  the  land  of  promise. 
Prudent,  patient,  not  easily  offended,  keen  to  perceive 
and  courageous  to  do  Avhat  is  necessary  to  be  done,  he  has 
the  elements  of  a  good  leader.     He  may  be  mistaken  in 


472  JONATHAN    WEAVEE. 

his  judgment,  but  the  people  who  follow  him  are  sure 
he  is  thoroughly  honest,  and  so  they  trust  him. 
Perhaps  no  man  wields  a  greater  influence  in  the 
church  to-day  than  does  he.  May  he  yet  be  spared 
many  years  to  see  the  fruit  of  his  patient  and  enduring 
toil. 


^-e^^^^a^-fc^K  y'^^^^<-^^ 


REV.  DANIEL  SHUCK, 
TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


JOHN  SHUCK,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  a 
plain,  honest  farmer,  who  earned  his  bread  by  Ms 
daily  toil.  He  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  at  that 
time,  in  that  section,  there  were  few  facilities  for  educa- 
tion. He  was  a  member  of  the  Evangelican  Lutheran 
Church.  He  was  a  modest,  undemonstrative  man,  and 
kindly  disposed  toward  all  Christians  of  whatever 
name.  He  was  a  diligent  student  of  the  Bible,  and  trusted 
in  Christ  for  salvation.  He  died  in  ISTovember,  1884,  at 
the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-nine  years,  in  hope  of  ever- 
lasting life. 

The  mother's  maiden  name  was  Lapp.  She  was 
born  in  Germany.  She  was  converted  and  united  with 
the  United  Brethren  Church  under  the  labors  of  Rev. 
J.  Antrim,  in  one  of  the  first  organizations  in  Harrison 
county,  Ind.  .  She  died  when  Daniel  was  very 
young,  and  he  has  but  few  recollections  of  her.  What 
a  loss  he  thereb}'^  suffered  no  one  can  know  except 
those  who  have  gone  through  similar  experiences.  She 
lived  and  died  a  Christian. 

His  grandparents  on  his  father's  side  he  never  saw. 
In  the  early  territorial  histor}'  of  Indiana,  the}^  moved 
from  near  Lebanon,  Ky.,  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Corydon,  Ind.  The  grandparents  on  the  mother's 
side  were  members  of  the  German  Reformed  Church 
until  they  joined  the  United  Brethren  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  class  near  Mauckport,  Harrison  county,  Ind. 

473 


474  DANIEL   SHUCK, 

There  is  still  a  large  church  at  this  point.  Grand- 
father Lapp  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  a 
man  of  positive  convictions,  who  had  no  sympathy  with 
Tories.  He  fell  asleep  one  day  while  taking  his  usual 
rest  and  apparently  without  pain.  "  He  was  not,  for 
God  took  him."  Three  of  his  inother's  brothers  were 
clergymen.  John  and  A.  Lapp  were  ministers  in  the 
United  Brethren  Church,  and  Jacob  Lapp  was  a  minis- 
ter in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Daniel  was  born  in  Harrison  county,  Ind.,  Jan- 
uary 16,  1827.  There  were  four  children  in  the  family 
older  than  himself  and  nine  younger,  making  fourteen 
in  all.  Seven  were  half-brothers  and  sisters.  His  old- 
est sister  died  in  infancy,  also  one  of  his  half-sisters. 
His  youngest  brothei'  died  about  twelve  years  ago  near 
Hartsville,  Ind.,  whose  daughter  is  now  professor  of 
mathematics  in  Hartsville  College. 

His  home,  surrounded  by  delightful  scenery,  was  on 
a  hillside  overlooking  a  beautiful  valley  near  the  Ohio 
river,  in  southern  Indiana.  One  point  of  view  in  his 
boyhood  he  had  selected  as  a  suitable  site  for  a  college, 
thus  early  foreshadowing  what  his  future  labors  might 
be.  His  home  surroundings  were  as  pleasant  as  the}^ 
could  be,  Avith  no  mother  to  guide  his  wayward  feet. 
He  had  no  such  pictures  laid  away  in  his  memory  as 
did  another,  who  lived  near  the  same  Ohio  river,  and 
has  let  us  look  into  her  home. 

"Listen  closer;  when  you  have  done 

With  woods  and  corn  fields  and  grazing  herds, 
A  lady,  the  loveliest  ever  the  sun 

Looked  down  upon,  you  must  paint  for  me. 
Oh!  If  I  could  only  make  you  see 
The  clear  blue  eyes,  the  tender  smile, 
The  sovereign  sweetness,  the  gentle  grace, 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.     475 

The  woman's  soul,  and  the  angel's  face, 
That  are  beaming  on  me  all  the  while. 

I  need  not  speak  these  foolish  words. 
Yet  one  word  tells  you  all  I  would  say — 
She  is  my  mother.     You  will  agree 

That  all  the  rest  may  be  thrown  away." 

His  oldest  sister  took  the  oversight  of  the  household 
affairs,  until  she  married  Eev.  J.  Kiley.  The  mother's 
brothers,  who  were  clergymen,  frequently  visited  the 
home,  and  the  influence  exerted  was  a  religious  one. 
The  prevailing  element  of  the  community  in  which  he 
lived  was  religious,  and  this  may  have  had  no  little 
influence  in  keeping  the  boy  in  right  paths.  His  early 
years  were  spent  on  the  farm,  aiding  in  the  house  and 
out  of  it  as  circumstances  made  it  necessary.  In  this 
way  he  was  brought  in  living  \ital  contact  with  nature, 
which  was  healthful  for  both  body  and  mind.  Away 
from  the  temptations  of  vice  which  are  found  in  the 
cities,  he  kept  his  heart  and  life  pure,  listening  to  the 
voice  of  Him  who  spoke  in  the  genial  sunshine  and  the 
starry  heavens  above  hira.  His  earliest  desires  were  to 
live  a  good  life.  He  was  not  quarrelsome,  but  when 
provoked  sought  to  control  his  own  spirit.  Among  his 
earliest  impressions  was  the  conviction  that  at  some 
time  he  would  be  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  How  much 
of  this  impression  was  due  to  the  example  and  influence 
of  his  uncles,  and  how  much  to  the  more  direct  prompt- 
ings of  the  Divnie  Spirit,  we  can  not  tell. 

His  flrst  opportunity  for  going  to  school  was  to  a 
private  school  four  miles  from  his  home,  taught  b}^  a 
Mr.  Dean.  Two  of  the  family  attended  this  school, 
riding  one  horse.  Not  long  after  this,  a  private  school 
was  opened  in  a  log  meeting  house  about  one  and  a 
half  miles  from  his  home.     Some  time  after  this  district 


476  DANIEL   SHUCK, 

schools  were  started;  these  were  conducted  in  different 
places  according  to  the  taste  and  judgment  of  the 
teacher.  The  course  of  instruction  was  very  limited. 
Webster's  spelling  book,  the  English  reader,  contain- 
ing some  of  the  choicest  specimens  of  English  litera- 
ture, Pilve's  arithmetic  and  Kirkham's  English  grammar 
were  the  principal  studies.  Some  attention  was  given 
lo  penmanship.  Books  for  reading  were  scarce.  The 
sisters  taught  him  the  alphabet  out  of  the  Bible.  He 
had  no  direct  religious  teaching  at  the  time.  There 
was  no  family  prayer  at  home  except  when  ministers 
would  call  and  pray  with  them.  When  he  was  con- 
verted, in  his  fifteenth  year,  he  began  family  prayers  in 
his  father's  house. 

Later  in  his  life,  1845-46,  he  spent  one  year  at 
the  State  University  of  Indiana.  At  this  time  there 
were  no  schools  in  existence  in  the  United  Brethren 
Church.  He  went  where  duty  seemed  to  lead  him. 
He  was  at  the  time  junior  preacher  on  Liberty  circuit, 
Indiana  Annual  Conference.  Before  the  session  of  the 
conference  in  March,  1845,  he  had  conchuled  to 
go,  and  had  authorized  his  brother  David  to  make  the 
necessary  purchase  of  books,  which  was  done.  When 
it  was  known  the  preachers  opposed  his  going,  he 
concluded  to  ask  the  advice  of  Bishop  Henry  Kumler, 
Jr.  The  bishop  dissuaded  him  from  his  purpose.  He 
promised  to  give  him  a  work  the  next  year  in  connec- 
tion with  a  good  scholar,  that  he  could  travel,  preach 
and  study  at  the  same  time.  He  finally  surrendered 
his  own  convictions,  and  was  willing  to  yield  to  the 
advice  of  his  brethren.  He  took  an  appointment  with 
Rev.  J.  A.  Ball,  who  was  a  good  English  scholar,  an 
able   minister  and   a  father  in  Israel.     He  had  been 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     477 

elected  a  delegate  to  General  Conference,  and  was  con- 
siderably afflicted  during  the  first  six  months  of  the 
year.  As  a  result  the  charge  needed  all  the  time  and 
labor  of  the  junior  preacher.  He  finally  revealed  his 
convictions  and  wishes  to  Father  Ball.  The  latter,  see- 
ing his  anxiety  for  a  better  education  and  his  disap- 
pointment at  the  way  matters  had  terminated,  agreed 
to  release  him  and  fill  the  charge  himself.  This  was 
the  only  person,  save  his  brother,  who  gave  him  any 
encouragement  to  seek  a  higher  education.  His  means 
were  limited,  and  so  he  attended  school  but  one  year. 
He  gave  most  of  the  time  to  the  study  of  the  English, 
Latin  and  Greek  languages,  all  with  direct  view  to  his 
future  life  work — the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  This  was 
the  beginning,  really,  of  his  education.  His  entering 
the  State  University  for  so  short  a  period  as  one  year 
he  considers  the  second  best  act  of  his  life. 

These  early  fathers  meant  well,  but  they  seemed  to 
have  such  a  dread  of  schools  and  scientific  knowledge. 
Perhaps  they  did  not  mean  to  intimate  that  too  much 
knowledge  was  bad  for  a  preacher,  and  that  the  more 
ignorant  he  was  the  more  useful  he  could  be,  but  thej^ 
probably  thought  a  preacher  of  general  information 
might  be  tempted  to  become  vain,  and  rely  more  on 
his  own  mental  resources  than  on  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  not  knowing  that  the  most  highly  cultured  men 
are  the  most  modest,  while  those  who  know  the  least 
are  the  most  anxious  for  display.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
many  a  young  man  has  had  his  usefulness  as  well  as 
his  enjoyment  crippled,  and  his  life  work  maimed  by 
honest  but  injudicious  friends  urging  him  out  into  the 
ministry  when  he  wanted  to  go  to  school  and  should 
have  gone  there.     In  their  zeal  to  save  men,  they  may 


478  DANIEL    SHUCK, 

outvie  their  Master,  and  forget  that  God  calls  men  to 
prepare  to  preach  as  Avell  as  to  preach.  It  has  been 
related  to  the  writer  that  at  one  time  Alexander 
Biddle  was  admonished  by  his  conference  for  carrying 
his  English  grammar  with  him,  and  that  David  Bone- 
brake,  of  Indiana,  was  suspended  by  his  quarterly  con- 
ference because  he  was  privately  pursuing  the  same 
study.  Thanks  to  Father  Bail  who  had  light  enough 
to  help  this  young  man  to  gratify  his  hunger  for 
knowledge. 

On  the  eleventh  day  of  March,  184Y,  when  a  little 
over  twenty  years  of  age,  he  was  married  to  Miss  tl. 
B.  Cannady.  The  ceremony  was  performed  by  Rev. 
T.  S.  Chittenden.  No  children  have  ever  been  born 
to  them.  While  having  no  children  of  their  own,  they 
have  been  able  to  give  a  home  to  the  homeless,  and 
take  the  place  of  father  and  mother  to  them.  For 
years  theirs  has  been  a  kind  of  orphan's  home.  One 
little  babe,  when  only  two  weeks  old,  lost  her  mother, 
and  was  taken  into  the  hearts  and  home  of  this  kind 
brother  and  sister  and  reared  by  them  as  their  own 
daughter.  She  is  now  the  wife  of  Rev.  D.  A.  Mobley, 
D.  D.,  president  of  San  Joaquin  Valley  College,  at 
Woodbridge,  Cal.  Another,  having  lost  her  mother 
when  about  three  years  of  age,  also  found  a  home  and 
kind  parents  here,  and  is  still  with  them.  These  are 
both  religious,  and  are  members  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church.  Others,  from  time  to  time,  have  come  into 
this  home,  and  shared  in  the  affection  and  goodness  of 
these  devoted  servants  of  the  Master. 

Daniel  was  converted  in  the  autumn  of  1841,  at 
about  fourteen  years  of  age,  when  alone  in  the  field. 
He  then  and  there  had  the  consciousness  of  pardon  and 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     479 

the  witness  of  the  Spirit  that  he  was  an  heir  of  God 
and  a  joint-heir  with  Christ,  He  was  made  to  rejoice 
that  his  name  was  written  in  heaven.  He  hud  been 
under  conviction  for  some  months  before,  but  had  not 
revealed  the  fact  to  any  one.  Some  weeks  before  this, 
while  attending  a  revival  meeting,  he  had  determined 
to  commit  himself  if  an}^  one  should  askhim  to  go  to  the 
mourner's  bench.  In  that  day  no  one  seemed  to  think 
of  seeking  out  a  boy  of  his  age.  Indeed  it  is  doubtful 
if  the  ministers  themselves  thought  it  possible  for  such 
an  one  to  have  any  clear  ideas  of  a  religious  life.  While 
the  church  was  neglecting  him,  the  Lord  was  seeking 
him.  When  he  entered  into  life  there  was  a  quarterly 
meeting  in  progress  at  the  crossroads  near  Mount  Zion 
meeting  house.  Rev.  W.  S.  Stuart  was  presiding  elder. 
The  preacher  in  charge  was  Rev.  M.  McElfresh.  There 
was  quite  an  interest  at  this  time  among  the  people. 
The  presiding  elder  announced  that  six  persons  had 
given  their  names  to  unite  with  the  church.  The  preach- 
er in  charge  said  there  were  seven  :  "  Here  is  a  little 
one."  Our  subject  was  the  seventh.  He  was  led  to 
join  with  the  United  Brethi-en  through  the  influence  of 
his  family  relationship  and  in  part  because  he  preferred 
the  spirit  and  usages  of  this  church  to  any  other. 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel  by  the  quar- 
terly conference  on  Corydon  circuit,  and  by  Indiana 
Annual  Conference  in  January,  1844,  when  about  seven- 
teen years  of  age.  After  due  examination  he  was 
received  into  this  conference  at  its  session  held  in 
Franklin  church,  Union  county,  Ind.,  in  March,  1844. 
He  has  traveled  Corydon,  Washington,  Laughey  and 
Newbern  circuits,  and  filled  Lawrenceville,  New  Albany 
and  Hartsville  stations  in  Indiana.     He  also  served  as 


480  DANIEL    SHUCK, 

presiding  elder  when  the  whole  conference  territory 
and  the  charge  in  southern  Kentuckj-  constituted  tlie 
presiding  elder's  district.  He  then  served  each  district 
after  its  division.  In  1858  he  acted  as  missionary  in 
Missouri ;  he  served  as  elder  of  the  Missouri  district, 
and  also  had  charge  of  St.  Aubert  mission.  He 
served  as  presiding  elder  one  year  in  Walla  Walla  dis- 
trict, Washington  Territory  and  eastern  Oregon.  He 
served  Monument  circuit,  Stanislaus  circuit.  Wood- 
bridge  station.  Feather  River  circuit,  Rohrerville  cir- 
cuit, Sacramento  district  and  Humbolt  district  in 
California. 

During  one  of  his  itinerant  trips  in  Missouri  he  found 
himself  in  pretty  close  quarters  one  morning.  After 
breakfast  at  a  slaveholder's  home,  the  following  conver- 
sation occurred  between  Mr.  Shuck  and  a  book  peddler 
by  the  name  of  Butt.  He  asked :  "Are  you  prospect- 
ing for  a  home  in  this  country  ? ''  "JSTo,  sir,"  answered 
Shuck.  "Are  you  trading  ? "  "JSTo,  sir,"  was  the  response 
again  given;  "  I  see  you  are  a  book  peddler — I  am  ped- 
dling the  Gospel."  *'  What  church  do  you  belong  to?" 
"  The  United  Brethren  in  Christ."  "  Is  this  the  Chris- 
tian order? "  "  No,  sir."  "  Is  it  the  Disciples'? "  "  No, 
sir."  "Where  do  you  differ  from  other  cliurches  in  this 
section  ? "  "  We  differ  from  other  churches  in  our  polity; 
we  unite  the  Episcopal  and  Congregational  elements ;  we 
do  not  allow  our  members  to  make,  sell  or  use  spirit- 
uous liquors,  except  for  medicinal  and  mechanical  pur- 
poses. Persons  who  wish  to  unite  with  us  must  break 
off  their  connection  with  secret  societies,  if  they  belong 
to  an3%  and  our  members  are  prohibited  from  joining 
any.  Persons  w^ho  hold  slaves,  if  they  profess  religion 
and  want  to  join  with  us,  must   make  provision  for 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.     481 

the  freedom  of  their  slaves."  At  this  point  Mr.  Butt's 
eyes  seemed  to  flash.  He  said  to  Mr.  Shuck :  "  My 
friend,  you  are  barking  up  the  wrong-  tree.  The  Chris- 
tian people  of  this  country  have  resolved  to  keep  politics 
out  of  the  pulpit."  Mr.  Shuck  answered  :  "  We  do  not 
propose  to  interfere  with  any  man's  rights.  Many  of 
our  members  have  moved  into  this  State,  and  they  de- 
sire to  enjoy  their  church  privileges,  and  we  are  trying, 
as  far  as  possible,  to  supply  their  religious  wants.  If 
persons  believe  they  can  own  slaves  and  get  to  heaven, 
there  are  churches  large  enough  to  take  them  into  their 
fellowship,  but  our  ship  is  too  small  to  do  so;  it  would 
sink  her."  He  went  to  his  wagon  and  took  out  a  book, 
saying  :  "I  want  to  sell  you  this  book ;  you  may  have  it 
at  cost."  It  proved  to  be  a  "  Bible  Defense  of  Slavery." 
Mr.  Shuck  purchased  it,  and  gave  him  a  cop}^  of  our  Dis- 
cipline. He  thought  it  was  about  time  for  him  to  be 
getting  away.  A  colored  boy  brought  his  horse,  and 
he  asked  the  host  his  bill,  and  vf as  answered  :  "  Noth- 
ing, only  do  all  the  good  you  can;  but  I  am  awfully 
afraid  you  are  an  abolitionist."  Mr.  Shuck  thanked 
him  for  his  kindness,  and  hastened  on  his  journey,  not 
knowing  what  awaited  him. 

He  organized  a  class  m  1858  at  St.  Aubert.  Bro. 
L.  Colbentz  was  made  leader.  In  the  following  spring 
Mr.  Shuck  was  invited  to  pr-each  in  a  schoolhouse 
about  five  miles  from  St.  Aubert.  There  were  no  pray- 
ing persons  in  the  community.  He  organized  a  flour- 
ishing Sabbath-school  here,  and  Brother  Colbentz  was 
made  superintendent.  In  July,  1859,  Mr.  Shuck  had  a 
three  days'  meeting  at  this  appointment.  A  promi- 
nent man  by  the  name  of  Smith,  who  resided  near  the 
schoolhouse,  took  a  considerable  interest  in  the  meet- 
ing.    One  Sabbath,  at   the   close   of   the  service,    Mr. 


482  DANIEL  SHUCK, 

Smith  invited  his  wife  and  himself  to  take  dinner  with 
him.  He  was  born  in  New  York  and  raised  in  Vir- 
ginia. He  had  not  been  in  the  liabit  of  going  to 
church.  He  was  the  only  man  in  that  section  of  coun- 
try who  took  the  New  York  Tribune.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  vigilance  committee,  and,  as  he  was 
about  ready  to  start  for  Pike's  Peak,  he  would  tell  Mr. 
Shuck  what  had  transpired  in  their  meetings  concerning 
him.  At  a  regular  meeting  in  his  absence,  a  leading  lay- 
man of  a  sister  church,  who  had  been  present  at  the 
meetings  held  by  Mr.  Shuck,  and  who  had  testified  for 
Christ,  had  introduced  a  resolution  to  give  Mr.  Shuck  a 
certain  number  of  days  to  leave  the  country,  and  if  he 
did  not  within  that  time,  then  to  send  him  away. 
His  host  had  been  informed  of  the  resolution.  He 
spoke  to  a  Mr.  Moore,  of  the  Christian  Church,  who 
was  also  a  member  of  the  vigilance  committee,  of  the 
proposed  action  at  the  next  meeting,  and  urged  him  to 
be  present.  Mr.  Shuck  had  preached  at  a  schoolhouse 
near  where  Mr.  Moore  resided,  and  had  been  treated 
very  kindl}^  by  him.  The  next  meeting  of  the  com- 
mittee was  held.  The  resolution  was  introduced, 
when  Mr.  Moore,  who  made  no  profession  of  Chris- 
tianity, asked  the  professed  Christian  brother  of  an- 
other denomination,  "  Have  you  heard  Mr.  Shuck 
preach  ? "  He  answered,  "  I  have."  "  Can  he  preach  ?  " 
"  Yes."  "  Has  he  interfered  with  any  of  your  rights?  " 
"  He  has  not."  "  Tlien  let  him  alone  as  long  as  he  does 
not  interfere  with  any  of  your  rights,  or  you  will  have 
war  among  yourselves."  The  resolution  did  not  pass. 
As  a  preacher  he  has  not  been  disposed  to  complain 
of  his  hardships  and  trials,  although  he  has  had  his  full 
share  of  both.      Like  most  of  our  frontier  workers  he 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  ClJKi:-l.      -tSB 

has  had  hard  work  but  little  pecuniary  pay.  As  an 
example  of  this,  his  first  year's  work  took  him  a 
journey  of  200  miles  around  his  circuit,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  year  he  had  twenty-eight  appointments, 
which  he  filled  every  four  weeks.  His  salary  for  the 
year's  work  did  not  amount  to  sixty  dollars.  He  lived 
on  his  circuit,  and  so  far  as  the  prosperity  of  the  church 
was  concerned  had  a  good  year.  The  people  came  out  to 
his  meetings,  and  he  had  full  houses  on  the  Sabbath, 
and  generally  at  his  week-day  appointments:  He  has 
had  some  interesting  revivals.  He  never  kept  any 
account  of  the  number  of  conversions ;  had  no  inclina- 
tion so  to  do.  God  owned  his  efforts  by  crowning  them 
with  revivals  on  all  his  charges  during  an  itinerating  life 
of  forty-four  years.  While  a  student  in  the  university 
he  had  his  regular  Sabbath  appointments,  and  went 
from  Bloomington  to  Indianapolis  to  join  Rev.  A.  Wim- 
set  in  a  meeting  in  the  city  in  August,  1846.  The  meet- 
ing was  one  of  remarkable  power  and  interest. 

While  he  was  a  member  of  the  State  University, 
one  of  the  preachers  of  a  sister  church  who  was  sta- 
tioned at  Bloomington,  invited  him  to  a  dinner  about 
the  holidays.  He  was  flattered  with  the  notice,  and 
accepted  the  invitation.  When  there  he  found  the  pre- 
siding elder  of  the  district  was  to  bear  him  company. 
As  there  was  no  United  Brethren  Society  in  that  sec- 
tion, it  was  suggested  to  him,  by  these  men,  that  he 
change  his  church  relations,  and  as  an  incentive  to  do 
this  a  good  charge  was  promised  him,  that  would  look 
well  to  his  financial  interests.  He  was,  for  the  mo- 
ment stunned  by  the  proposition,  and  finally  summoned 
courage  to  ask  the  brethren  if  they  thought  that  a 
horse    and    buggy,   fine    clothes    and   a  good    living, 


484  DANIEL  SHUCK, 

were  enough  to  buy  him ;  if  so,  they  had  misjudged  him, 
as  he  was  not  on  the  market.  He  did  not  change  his 
church  relations. 

Most  of  the  trials  that  have  come  to  him  in  his 
ministerial  work  have  been  from  without.  Much  of  this 
from  the  disloyalty  to  Christ,  and  the  want  of  fidelity 
to  covenant  obligations,  upon  the  part  of  so  many  men 
who  have  professed  to  be  called  of  God  to  the  work  of 
the  ministry. 

With  but  two  exceptions  in  his  life,  he  always  went 
to  the  field  assigned  him  by  the  proper  authorities, 
and  did  the  work  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  striving  to 
live  with  a  conscience  void  of  offense  toward  God  and 
man. 

He  was  elected  a  trustee  of  Hartsville  University  in 
1851,  and  since  that  time  his  connection  with  the  edu- 
cational work  of  the  church  has  been  decided  and 
active.  With  the  exception  of  four  years,  when  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  he  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  trust- 
ees from  1851  to  1877.  A  part  of  the  time  he-  was 
agent,  was  also  treasurer,  and  a  part  of  the  time  taught 
some  classes.  While  pastor  at  Hartsville,  he  delivered 
lectures  on  church  history,  and  during  the  last  two 
years  of  his  pastorate,  he  taught  classes  in  S3^stematic 
theology.  When  a  move  was  made  to  purchase  grounds 
and  erect  a  new  building,  he  agreed  to  give  one-fourth 
of  all  he  possessed  to  erect  the  contemplated  building. 
When  the  institution  was  $8,000  in  debt,  and  a  severe 
trial  had  come  to  them  through  the  resignation  of 
President  Scribner,  he  again  offered  to  give  three  dollars 
out  of  every  hundred  he  was  worth,  if  the  membership 
within  a  given  radius  would  do  the  same.  A  few  re- 
fused, but  the  managers  secured  most  of  the  $8,000. 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      485 

He  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  education  at  its 
first  organization,  and  as  such  assisted  in  founding 
Union  Biblical  Seminary.  He  was  active  in  the  open- 
ing of  the  seminary,  and  in  locating  the  site  for  the 
building.  In  1872,  at  the  request  of  the  board  of 
trustees,  he  consented  to  act  as  agent  for  the  seminary, 
and  entered  upon  the  work  at  the  close  of  the  session 
of  his  conference.  He  labored  until  within  a  few  days 
of  the  meeting  of  General  Conference  in  18T3. 

At  the  session  of  the  California  Annual  Conference, 
in  1878,  there  was  a  committee  of  three  appointed  to 
secure  a  site  for  an  institution  of  learning  under  the 
supervision  of  the  conference,  and  Mr.  Shuck  was 
chosen  one  of  said  committee.  During  the  year  the 
committee  accepted  a  proposition,  made  by  a  board  of 
trustees,  for  a  seminary  at  Woodbridge,  San  Joaquin 
county,  and  made  arrangements  to  open  the  school  in 
September,  1879,  which  was  done.  The  patronage 
was  such  that  in  due  time  the  managers  incorporated 
as  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  College  Association.  At 
the  beginning,  Kev.  D.  A.  Mobley,  D.  D.,  was  made 
principal.  In  the  organization  of  the  college  faculty, 
he  was  made  president,  which  relation  he  still  holds. 
Brother  Shuck  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  during  all  the  years  since  its  founding. 

When  the  question  of  securing  a  permanent  fund 
for  San  Joaquin  Valley  College  was  discussed,  he  agreed 
to  give  his  note  for  $500,  bearing  four  per  cent,  interest 
per  annum  until  paid.  This  was  one-fourth  of  all  he  was 
worth.  He  is  still  president  of  the  board  of  trustees, 
and,  inasmuch  as  he  is  not  at  present  able  to  do  regular 
effective  work  as  an  itinerant,  the  executive  committee 
have  appointed  him  as  agent  to  do  what  he  can  to 
advance  the  interests  of  the  college. 


486  DANIEL  SHUCK, 

He  was  elected  bishop  at  tlie  General  Conference, 
held  in  Westerville,  Ohio,  May,  1861.  J.  Weaver 
had  been  elected  and  had  resigned.  Some  nieraber  sug- 
gested Mr.  Shuck's  name,  and,  without  any  thought  of 
the  matter  on  his  part,  he  was  elected.  In  view  of  his 
age,  being  at  this  time  a  little  past  thirty -four  years, 
and  for  other  personal  considerations,  he  concluded  it 
would  not  be  best  for  him  to  accept.  He  wrote  out 
his  resignation,  but  before  he  presented  it  he  consulted 
with  BishojD  Glossbrenner,  who  advised  him  not  to  re- 
sign, but  to  go  to  the  district.  This  was  during  the 
excitement  of  the  war.  He  returned  to  the  J^ew  Al- 
bany Mission  station  and  the  New  Albany  district  to 
push  the  work  of  the  year.  When  the  year  closed,  he 
boxed  his  goods  and  marked  them  for  Sacramento, 
Cal.  By  the  time  this  was  done  he  could  not  get 
away  without  giving  a  bond  for  $5,000  that  he  Avould 
appear  if  drafted.  In  this  uncertain  condition  he 
went  to  Annual  Conference,  and  found  that  about 
a  dozen  of  the  preachers  had  volunteered  their  services 
to  their  country.  It  was  linally  concluded  that  it 
would  be  best  not  to  leave  then.  He  was  elected  pre- 
siding elder,  and  remained  in  Indiana  until  December, 
1863,  when,  learning  of  the  death  of  Ilev.  Israel  Sloane, 
who  had  been  an  efficient  worker  in  California,  he  re- 
signed his  district  and  hastened  to  the  land  of  the  set- 
ting sun.  He  was  delayed  on  the  route  because  of 
the  severe  cold  weather.  He  was  detained  in  Dayton 
some  twenty  days,  waiting  the  time  of  the  steamer. 
John  Kemp  took  him  and  his  wife  into  his  own  home 
and  treated  them  very  kindly. 

He  was  on  his  way  to  California,  via  New  York, 
Aspinwall  and  Panama.     After  a  voyage  of  thirty-five 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHREN  IN  CHKIST.      487 

days  from  New  York  they  arrived  at  San  Francisco, 
thence  to  Sacramento  City,  thence  to  the  brethren  and 
sisters  on  the  Sacramento  river,  in  Yolo  county.  He 
arrived  here  in  March,  1864.  He  found  the  church 
work  somewhat  demoralized.  The  leader  had  been 
taken  away  by  death.  Some  who  had  been  placed  on 
works,  from  one  cause  or  anotlier,  had  abandoned  them, 
so  that  there  was  but  one  preacher.  Rev.  J.  W.  Har- 
row, who  was  wholly  given  to  the  work  of  preaching. 
He  had  just  come  from  Humbolt  county  to  Sacramento 
valley.  During  the  winter.  Rev.  Joseph  H.  Mayfield, 
of  Oregon,  had  held  a  revival  meeting  on  the  Feather 
river,  in  Butte  county,  in  which  about  eighty  persons 
professed  a  saving  faith  in  Christ.  He  organized  a 
class  of  fifty  members,  of  the  church  of  the  United 
Brethren  in  Christ.  Mayfield  was  in  the  country  on  a 
trading  expedition,  but  in  this  case  turned  his  attention 
to  better  work.  There  was  a  small  class  on  Day  Creek, 
Sacramento  county,  a  class  at  Monument,  one  near 
Sylvy ville,  Yolo  county,  and  two  in  Humboldt  county. 
The  brethren  were  very  much  discouraged.  The  bish- 
op went  to  work  with  energy'  to  encourage  the  things 
which  remained  that  were  ready  to  ie.  He  first 
preached  at  Monument,  and  then  went  to  Live  Oak,  in 
Butte  county,  and  held  a  meeting  there  with  increasing 
interest  and  good  results.  In  company  with  others  he 
next  held  a  meeting  with  the  Dry  Creek  class.  He 
then  started  to  visit  the  brethren- on  Eel  river,  Hum- 
boldt county,  to  reach  which  would  require  a  week  of 
constant  travel  on  horseback.  In  due  time  he  and 
Brother  Harrow  made  the  long  and  tiresome  journey, 
one  stretch  of  Avhich  was  on  a  narrow  trail.  Some- 
times they  were  ascending  at  an  angle  of  forty-five 


48S  DANIEL  SHUCK, 

degrees,  or  what  seemed  to  be  that,  and  again  descend- 
ing at  the  same  inclination  to  the  horizon. 

Up  and  down,  onward  they  pursued  their  tiresome 
journey,  sleeping  on  the  ground  at  night  and  traveling 
during  the  day,  until  at  last,  tired  and  weary  and 
rejoiced,  they  reached  the  end  of  their  journey,  the 
home  of  Brother  Harrow,  who  lived  with  his  mother 
and  brothers.  Some  refreshment  and  then  they  slept, 
sung  to  rest  by  the  music  of  old  ocean's  roar.  A  meet- 
ing was  commenced  which  continued  over  the  Sabbath 
with  good  results. 

During  July  and  August  he  held  a  number  of  meet- 
ings in  the  Sacramento  valley,  and  with  good  success, 
closing  with  a  good  camp-meeting  in  Butte  county, 
where  Gridley,  a  town  of  about  700  inhabitants  is 
located. 

After  the  close  of  this  camp  meeting,  he  and  his 
wife,  in  a  private  conveyance,  with  two  other  families, 
started  to  visit  the  churches  in  Oregon.  They  traveled 
during  the  day  and  camped  out  at  night.  The  first 
Sabbath  he  held  religious  services  in  Trinity  Center, 
Cal.;  the  second  in  Rouge  River  valley.  Ore.,  near 
Ashland ;  the  third,  in  Looking  Glass  valley,  Ore., 
and  the  fourth,  a  camp  meeting,  near  Oakland.  At 
the  last  two  meetings  he  assisted  Rev.  T.  J.  Conner,  the 
presiding  elder ;  the  fifth  was  spent  at  a  quarterly 
camp  meeting  in  the  neighborhood  wii ere  Philomath 
now  stands  ;  the  sixth  at  a  camp  meeting  in  Yam  Hill 
county  ;  the  seventh  at  a  camp  meeting,  in  Washing- 
ton Territory,  near  Fort  Vancouver ;  the  eighth  at  a 
quarterly  meeting,  near  Sublimity.  During  this  meet- 
ing Rev,  W.  H.  Daugberty,  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
and  successful  missionaries  on  the  coast,  died  at  his 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      489 

home  in  Sublimity,  and  the  bishop  preached  his  funeral 
sermon  ;  the  ninth  he  attended  religions  services  near 
Salem ;  the  tenth  was  at  the  time  of  the  sitting  of  the 
Oregon  Annual  Conference.  He  visited  all  the  charges 
within  the  bounds  of  the  conference,  and  did  all  he 
could  to  encourage  and  build  up  the  cause,  and  with 
some  evidence  of  success. 

The  bishop  had  intended  to  sell  his  horse  and 
buggy  and  return  to  California  by  way  of  steamer,  but, 
having  traveled  the  route  and  found  acquaintances 
with  whom  he  could  profitably  spend  the  Sabbaths  in 
preaching,  he  concluded  to  return  in  his  own  convey- 
ance. He  got  along  very  pleasantly  until  late  one 
evening  just  as  the  last  rays  of  twilight  were  departing 
and  he  was  within  four  miles  of  Brother  Boulware's  in 
Butte  county,  CaL,  he  met  two  men  in  the  high- 
way and  inquired  of  them  if  he  was  on  the  right  road 
to  Mr.  Bouhvare's,  whereupon  one  of  them  dismounted, 
seized  the  bishop's  right  hand  with  his  left,  and, 
presenting  a  cocked  revolver  to  his  face,  demanded  his 
money  or  his  life.  The  money  being  the  least 
valuable,  he  gave  the  money.  He  then  asked  for  his 
revolver,  but  was  informed  that  he  did  not  carry  one. 
He  then  searched  him  to  learn  if  his  statements  were 
true;  next  he  ordered  him  out  of  the  buggy,  fastened 
his  arms  with  a  rope  and  sent  him  forward  to  the  side 
of  his  horse,  all  the  time  keeping  his  revolver  in  his 
hand  for  an  emergency.  The  other  man  led  the 
bishop's  horse  about  one  hundred  yards  from  the  road. 
His  wife  was  ordered  to  get  out  of  the  buggy  on  the 
other  side,  and  her  person  was  thoroughlv  searched  for 
money.  As  they  could  not  manage  the  keys  very  well, 
they  broke  open  the  trunk  and  valises  and  took  out  all 


490  DANIEL  SHUCK, 

the  good  wearing  apparel.  Having  secured  the  object 
of  their  search,  the  whole  amounting  to  about  $130, 
they  "loosed  him  and  let  him  go"  This  was  a 
strange  closing  to  a  long,  wearisome  and  laborious 
journey,  made  for  the  cause  of  the  Master.  He  had 
been  in  "peril  by  sea,"  and  he  now  knew  what  it  was 
to  be  in  "perils  among  robbers."  He  returned  to 
Monument,  Yolo  county,  Cal.,  in  time  for  the  first 
regular  session  of  said  conference  in  October,  1864. 
The  session  was  one  which  brought  new  hope  and 
inspired  new  confidence. 

This  period  was  a  hopeful  hour  for  the  church  in 
California.  One  of  the  preachers  then  in  the  State 
wrote  in  his  journal:  "  The  church  was  almost  in  a  dis- 
organized state,  but  a  change  was  soon  visible.  Letters 
were  written  from  friend  to  f liend,  '  The  bishop  has 
come.'  Those  who  had  been  predicting  the  sudden  de- 
mise of  the  church  changed  their  opinions,  while  the 
true  friends  of  the  cause  rejoiced  and  deserters  felt 
like  returning  to  their  former  allegiance." 

Mr.  Sliuck  was  reelected  bishop  of  the  Pacific  Coast 
district  in  May,  1865,  at  the  General  Conference  session 
held  in  Western,  Iowa.  He  continued  from  year  to  year 
in  the  same  general  line  of  active  work.  In  1865  the 
Cascade,  now  Walla  Walla,  conference  Avas  organized. 
This  extended  the  field  of  his  labors.  In  1867,  as 
Brother  Kenager's  duties  called  him  for  a  time  to  the 
Willamette  valley  the  bishop  agreed  to  serve  as  pre- 
siding elder  until  the  next  session.  During  this  year 
the  preachers  had  some  excellent  revivals.  A  grove 
meeting  was  held  in  Powder  River  valley  in  May,  1868, 
a  camp  meeting  in  Grand  Rounde  valley  in  the  same 
month  and  a  conference  camp  meeting  in  June,  1868, 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.      491 

near  Walla  Walla  City.  This  last  was  a  grand  meeting, 
and  productive  of  good  results.  The  conference  camp 
meeting  of  the  Oregon  confei'ences,  held  near  Forest 
Grove,  in  Washington  county,  on  the  1st  of  July,  1868, 
was  the  largest  meeting  which  the  bishop  was  permit- 
ted to  witness  along  the  coast.  There  Avere 
at  least  2,500  people  present  on  the  Sabbath. 
The  members  of  the  conference  for  the  most  part  were 
present.  A  new  inspiration  had  come  upon  them.  The 
membership  had  been  increased,  and  a  goodly  number 
of  unreserved  itinerants  had  been  found  to  man  the 
fields.  Philomath  College  had  been  established  and 
was  meeting  with  encouraging  success.  There  was 
unity  in  the  church  and  among  the  ministers  on  all 
moral  questions. 

The  few"  years  of  Mr.  Shuck's  work  as  bishop  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  mission  district,  w^ere  years  of  much 
anxious  thought  and  of  unremitting  toil  to  extend  the 
Master's  cause  as  represented  by  the  United  Brethren 
in  Christ.  The  effects  of  these  long  journeys  and  of 
his  abundant  labors  are  now  showing  themselves  more 
or  less  in  his  husky  and  bi'oken-down  voice,  and  in  his 
inability  for  close  application  to  study.  He  tried  faith- 
fully to  magnify  the  office  and  meet  as  best  he  could 
its  responsibilities.  He  received  during  this  period  an 
average  salary  of  $608.50  per  annum.  The  office 
opened  up  to  him  a  wider  field  of  usefulness  in  his  plan 
of  life,  which  was  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  preaching 
the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Where  he  should  do  this 
never  entered  into  his  plans,  foi*  "  the  field  is  the 
world."  It  was  from  this  consideration  that  he  gained 
the  consent  of  his  mind  to  enter  upon  the  responsibili- 
ties of  the  ofBce. 


492  DANIEL  SHUCK, 

Since  out  of  the  ofRce  of  bishop,  he  has  been  trying  to 
fill  the  higher  office  of  an  embassador  for  God,a  preacher 
in  apostolic  succession ;  in  charge  of  circuits,  stations 
and  districts  as  the  door  was  opened  in  the  providence 
of  God  and  in  the  economy  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church. 

At  the  session  of  the  California  Annual  Conference 
in  October,  1887,  he  requested  to  be  let  out  of  the  reg- 
ular worlv  and  to  be  granted  the  relation  of  conference 
evangelist.  He  hoped  that  a  few  months  of  rest  would 
so  restore  his  voice  that  he  could  render  efficient  serv- 
ice as  an  evangelist,  but  up  to  the  present  time  he  has 
only  attempted  to  preach  three  times. 

He  has  never  made  any  particular  form  of  church 
work  a  specialty.  He  served  the  church  for  a  time  as 
trustee  of  the  printing  establishment.  For  many  years 
he  tried  to  build  it  up,  as  one  of  its  agents.  For  years 
he  contributed  something  to  the  columns  of  the  Tele- 
scope once  or  twice  a  month.  All  of  these  services  were 
rendered  gratuitously. 

He  was  one  of  the  managers  of  the  Home,  Frontier 
and  Foreign  Missionarj^  Society  of  the  United  Brethren 
in  Christ,  from  its  organization  in  May,  1853,  until  May, 
1881.  He  always  felt  and  took  a  deep  interest  in  this 
department  of  church  work.  At  the  fir-st  annual  meet- 
mg  held  in  Westerville,  he  was  one  of  the  managers 
who  urged  the  western  coast  of  Africa  as  the  prospect- 
ive field  for  a  foreign  mission  work.  During  all  these 
years  when  a  member  of  the  board  he  was  at  his  post, 
except  when  absent  on  the  coast.  Once  during  his  last 
terra  of  services  he  went  from  California  to  Westerville 
at  the  last  meeting  of  the  board  held  there.  Since  1852 
he  has  also  taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  educational 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST,      493 

work  of  the  church.  To  work  while  it  is  called  to-dsiy 
was  his  motto,  and  what  his  hand  found  to  do  he  did 
with  his  might.  This  is  a  mistake  which  many  of  our 
most  industrious  men  have  made,  and  which  we  are 
sorry  to  see  the  church  has  encouraged  them  to  make. 
It  has  not  sought  to  save  its  workers.  After  the  long 
and  laborious  tours  which  Bishop  Shuck  made,  there 
should  have  been  periods  for  rest  and  recuperation. 

When  serving  as  pastor,  as  a  general  rule  he  de- 
voted the  forenoon  of  each  day  except  Monday  to 
study.  He  first  selected  portions  of  Scripture  with 
such  helps  as  he  had  at  his  command.  He  would  then 
study  other  works  on  theology,  in  moral  and  intel- 
lectual philosophy,  in  science  and  literature,  as  the 
time  at  his  command  would  permit.  He  did  much  of 
his  reading  and  study  when  going  from  one  appoint- 
ment to  another.  In  his  early  itinerant  life  he  made  it 
a  point  to  read  five  chapters  in  the  Bible  every  morn- 
ing. Because  of  this  habit,  there  came  up  at  one  time 
a  complaint  in  the  quarterly  conference  that  he  was  not 
social.  He  has  read  many  books,  has  studied  but  a 
few^.  He  is  rather  sedate,  somewhat  reserved  and 
backward,  would  rather  suffer  wrong  than  do  wrong  to 
his  co-laborers  or  his  fellow  men.  In  matters  of  honor 
is  disposed  to  prefer  others  to  himself.  In  fervency  of 
spirit  in  serving  the  Lord  does  not  want  to  be  excelled 
by  any. 

From  one  who  stands  very  near  the  family  we  learn 
that  the  bishop's  home  life  has  been  one  of  peace  and 
love.  When  married,  himself  and  wife  were  both 
Christians.  They  erected  a  family  altar,  he  leading  the 
devotions  in  the  morning,  she  in  the  evening.  He  was 
traveling  when  he  was  married,  expected  to  itinerate  as 


494  DANIEL  SHUCK, 

long  as  he  was  able,  and  she  agreed  to  go  with  him. 
She  has  kept  her  part  of  the  contract,  and  the  home 
life,  when  there  to  enjoy  it,  has  been  all  that  the  word 
means.  No  jars,  no  discords,  no  clashing  of  wills,  but 
one  purpose,  one  work,  to  do  the  will  of  the  Master. 
He  never  received  a  fat  salary.  Indeed,  many  years 
of  his  itinerant  life  were  spent  when  it  required  the 
closest  economy  to  keep  out  of  debt  —  but  he  did  it. 
At  the  close  of  the  third  year  of  united  labor  they 
mutually  agreed  that  they  w^ould  not  go  in  debt  for 
their  living  or  their  clothing;  that  they  would  not  run 
a  bill  with  the  merchant,  and  this  they  strictly  adhered 
to  through  all  the  years. 

He  sought  first  of  all  to  get  facts  clearly  and  plainly 
before  his  mind,  and  then  to  express  them  on  paper 
with  the  simplest  language  at  his  command.  He  is 
concise  in  his  expressions,  usually  does  the  best  in  his 
first  writing,  and  seldom  rewrites.  He  occasionally 
writes  a  sermon,  but  usually  prepares  them  without 
writing.  When  in  the  regular  pastoral  work,  before 
he  closed  the  work  of  the  Sabbath,  the  subjects  for  the 
following  Sabbath  were  suggested  to  him.  He  would 
study  these  subjects,  first,  by  reading  caref  ulh'^  the  text 
and  its  connections,  then  read  the  text  in  the  original 
Greek,  then  examine  such  notes  and  comments  as  came 
in  his  way.  With  these  aids  to  help  him,  he  carefully 
thought  out  his  sermon  and  had  it  arranged  in  his  mind 
for  future  use.  He  seldom  takes  written  notes  into  the 
pulpit.  He  did  so  for  a  time,  while  building  a  church 
in  the  city  of  New  Albany,  Ind.,  but  as  a  rule  he 
found  it  weakened  instead  of  strengthened  him.  It 
at  any  time  he  discovered  by  reviewing  his  discourse 
in  his  mind  that  he  had  forgotten  some  point  or  some 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHEEN  IN  CHEIST.      495 

illustration  which  he  intended  to  use,  he  made  that  a 
reason  to  charge  his  memorv  to  serve  him  better  in 
the  future. 

The  action  of  the  last  General  Conference  in  ap- 
pointing a  commission  and  the  action  of  that  commis- 
sion have  given  him  great  concern  and  brought  much 
anguish  of  mind.  If  3^ou  should  ask  him  the  reason  for 
such  anxiety,  he  would  probably  tell  you  that,  if  such  a 
principle  can  prevail  in  legislation,  all  constitutional 
law  in  a  voluntary  association  is  a  farce.  If  the  two- 
thirds  of  those  who  vote  on  this  new  constitution 
should  vote  in  its  favor,  and  the  article  on  secret  com- 
binations thereby  become  the  rule  of  the  church,  then 
the  church  will  deny  the  testimony  of  the  true  and 
faithful  witnesses  of  the  past  and  present,  and  will 
stand  stultified  befoi'e  the  Christian  conscience  of  the 
age.  If  carried  out  according  to  its  original  design, 
the  church  will  be  divided  from  center  to  circumfer- 
ence. 

While,  therefore,  he  would  tell  you  that  the  church 
was  making  a  blunder,  and  that  he  saw  grave  danger 
ahead  of  her,  rocks  on  which  she  is  in  danger  of  strand- 
ing, he  still  hopes  that  the  God  who  hears  and  answers 
prayer  will  save  the  church  from  disruption,  that  the 
radical  revolutionary  measures  may  not  prevail.  He 
still  hopes  that  the  composition  of  the  next  General  Con- 
ference will  be  of  such  a  conservative  nature  as  to 
harmonize  the  disturbing  elements;  to  conserve  highest 
demands  of  Christian!  t}^  and  prevent  a  division  or  dis- 
integration of  the  church. 

He  experienced  what  we  term  the  higher  Christian 
life  about  forty  years  ago.  He  was  led  into  it  when 
alone  on  his  circuit.     He  saw  it  to  be  his  duty  to  make 


496  DANIEL  SHUCK, 

an  unreserved  consecration  of  himself  and  services  to 
Christ,  and  appropriated  by  faith  His  provisions  and 
promises  as  made  to  him  individually.  Through  these 
two  score  years  of  privation,  of  cares,  of  sufferings,  of 
labors,  of  trials  in  various  ways,  the  Lord  has  kept  him 
in  perfect  peace,  He  has  lived  the  life  of  faith  which 
overcomes  the  world.  So  far  as  his  own  spirit  is  con- 
cerned, it  has  been  in  a  holy  calm,  a  sweet  hush,  in  the 
midst  of  the  errors  and  jealousies  of  others,  and  in  the 
hottest  of  the  battle.  He  has  much  reason  to  thank 
God  for  his  unspeakable  gift,  for  the  cleansing  virtues 
of  his  blood,  and  for  the  sanctifying  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  God  revealed  to  him  the  true  path  of  life,  the 
King's  highway  of  holiness,  and  he  entered  into  it,  and 
is  still  in  it,  and  is  nearing  the  cit}'  of  light  into  which 
none  shall  find  admittance  but  the  followers  of  the 
Lamb. 

With  all  his  misgivings  as  to  the  legislation  of  the 
church  and  its  effects  upon  our  growtj],  the  outlook  in 
California  seems  hopeful  to  him.  There  are  a  number 
of  good  meeting  houses  and  parsonages.  There  has 
been  within  the  last  yea,!'  an  addition  to  the  ministerial 
force  of  ten  ministers  of  fair  ability.  The  most  of  them 
say  they  have  gone  to  stay,  and  to  help  cultivate  the 
land,  San  Joaquin  Valley  College  has  grown  in  favor 
among  the  people,  and  commands  the  respect  of  the 
educators  of  the  State.  If  the  college  grows,  as  there  is 
reason  to  believe  it  will  grow,  it  will  contribute  much  to 
the  future  growth  of  the  church,  and  especially  if  she 
maintains  her  distinctive  principles  on  the  great  moral 
evils  of  the  day.  With  an  unreserved  itinerant  ministry, 
with  a  consecrated  membership,  with  a  united  stand  on 
the  Lord's  side  and  in  opposition  to  sin  and  all  its  forces, 


TWENTIETH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.     497 

and  if  the  Spirit  of  God  accompany  all  the  agencies 
which  it  has  been  using  and  will  still  use,  there  is  a 
bright  future  for  our  church  in  the  State  of  the  golden 
sunset. 

The  bishop  has  been  somewhat  conservative  in  his 
nature,  and  has  not  changed  his  views  much  on  the 
questions  which  have  agitated  the  church  during  the 
past  years.  He  was  in  favor  of  the  ^j^'o-nif^.^  represen- 
tation, and  also  of  la}"  delegation  in  the  General  Con- 
ference, if  introduced  in  a  constitutional  way.  He 
drafted  the  law  now  in  our  discipline  authorizing 
Annual  Conferences,  wiiich  might  desire  to  do  so,  to 
introduce  lay  delegates  into  their  conferences.  He 
still  believes  as  he  has  believed  before  that  the  article 
in  the  constitution  on  secret  combinations,  is  right  and 
should  remain  as  it  is ;  that  it  is  clear  in  its  statements; 
that  our  legislative  enactments  from  time  to  time  have 
been  in  harmony  with  it. 

He  was  present  as  a  spectator  at  the  General  Con- 
ference held  in  German  town,  Ohio,  in  1849 ;  he  has 
been  a  member  of  every  General  Conference  since  that 
time,  and  has  been  present  at  every  session  except  in 
1865.  He  had  been  on  the  coast  for  so  short  a  time, 
he  did  not  think  it  best  to  come  back  so  soon.  So  far  as 
known  he  has  never  been  an  aspirant  for  office.  From 
his  earliest  Christian  life  until  tlie  present,  as  duty  was 
urged  and  as  responsibility  was  imposed  upon  him,  he 
tried  to  do  the  best  he  could  to  meet  them.  No  one 
could  have  been  more  sincere,  more  earnest,  more  zeal- 
ous or  more  self-denying  than  he  has  tried  to  be. 


REV.  JOHN  DICKSON,  D.  D., 
TWENTY-FIRST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


JOHN  DICKSON  was  born  near  Chambersburg, 
Franklin  county,  Pa.,  June  15,  A.  D.  1820.  On 
his  father's  side  he  came  of  Scotch-Irish  stock,  which 
helps  to  account,  in  part,  for  his  independence  of  char- 
acter. His  great-grandfather,  John  Dickson,  was  born 
on  the  northeast  coast  of  Scotland,  of  the  house  of 
Argyle.  When  fifteen  years  of  age  he,  with  the  rest 
of  the  family,  were  compelled  to  leave  Scotland  on  ac- 
count of  political  troubles.  They  fled  to  the  north  of 
Ireland,  in  order  to  keep  out  of  the  way  of  King- 
James  II.  They  remained  in  Ireland  about  three 
years,  when  he  emigrated  to  this  country,  landed  at 
Philadelphia,  at  which  place  he  made  his  home  for 
some  time.  He  next  moved  to  Donegal  Meeting- 
house, in  Lancaster,  thence  to  Carlisle,  Shippensburg, 
and  finally,  in  1737,  settled  on  the  farm,  near  St. 
Thomas,  now  owned  by  the  bishop's  cousin,  Col. 
W.  D.  Dickson.  He  had  seven  sons.  William,  the 
grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  born  at  this  place.  At 
the  age  of  seven  years  he  was  captured  by  the  Indians, 
many  of  whom  were  about  here  at  this  time.  He  was 
kept  by  them  eleven  weeks,  most  of  the  time  in  a  cave 
on  an  adjoining  farm,  and  was  finally  returned  by  a 
kind  old  squaw,  who  had  been  receiving  favors  from 
the  family.  This  same  squaw  also  warned  them  of  a 
massacre  which  the  Indians  were  planning.  They 
took  advantage  of  this   warning  and  fled  to  Carlisle, 

498 


o0-x^-<^-;^2^-^^-^-^_ 


ife 


4  .// 


TWENTY-FIKST  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEI' '"^IN  CHRIP'    ^99 

where  they  remained  about  three  years  and  then  re- 
turned to  their  former  home.  The  grandfather  was  a 
sergeant  in  Colonel  Boquet's  comtoand,  and  served  to 
the  end  of  the  campaign.  He  was  with  Major  Dun- 
woodie  at  the  massacre,, aqd  was  one  of  the  three  that 
escaped  to  Fort  London.  The  remainder,  with  the 
major/ were  all  killed  ^nd  scalped.  He  also  joined  a 
company  that  was  raised  in  the  county  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  War  of  Independence,  and  held  the  posi- 
tion of  ensign,  declining  several  offers  of  promotion, 
till  the  close  of  the  war.  He  had  four  brothers  in  the 
army  ;  one  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  one 
at  Brandywine,  one  by  the  Indians,  and  one  died  on 
his  way  home  from  the  army. 

William,  the  grandfather,  was  married,  August  1, 
1767,  to  Nancy  Dunlap.  Not  much  can  be  learned  now 
of  her  ancestry.  She  was  an  aunt  to  James  Dunlap^ 
once  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Chambersburg,  and  the 
author  of  "  Purdon's  Digest  of  the  Laws  of  Pennsyl- 
vania." She  must  have  been  rather  a  kind-hearted  old 
lady.  It  was  said  of  her  in  after  years,  that  when  the 
boys  from  the  neighboring  village  would  visit  the  Dick- 
sons  for  apples,  she  would  always  have  a  piece  of  bread 
and  butter  and  cake  for  them,  and  if  any  of  them  re- 
fused to  eat  she  would  whip  them  and  compel  them  to 
eat.  To  them  were  born  nine  children,  five  boys  and 
four  girls.  James,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  tlie 
seventh  of  the  family,  and  was  born  ISTovember  28,  A.  D. 
1781,  and  died  in  Knox  county.  111.,  in  the  sixty-eighth 
year  of  his  age. 

The  maiden  name  of  the  bishop's  mother  was  Brat- 
ten,  and  she  was  of  English  descent.  The  original  name 
was  Britton.but  as  that  word  became  somewhat  iodious 


500  JOHN    DICKSON, 

during  revolutionary  times,  it  was  changed  to  Brat- 
ten,  to  escape  that  odium.  She  had  four  brothers  and 
one  sister.  She  died  in  Knox  county,  111.,  in  1840, 
and  is  buried  in  that  county.  The  father  was  a  man 
who  believed  in  Solomon's  theory  that  a  rod  is  good 
for  a  child,  and  our  subject  came  in  for  the  blessing  of 
the  law,  and,  perhaps,  did  not  get  more  than  the  father 
at  least  thought  he  deserved.  ■  The  mother,  a  kind,  ten- 
der-hearted woman,  became  a  mediator  between  the 
children  and  the  father. 

As  to  their  religious  belief  both  the  Dickson  and  the 
Bratten  families  were  of  Presbyterian  tendency.  As  a 
result  the  children  were  required  to  commit  to  memory 
the  Westminster  Catechism  and  repeat  it  over  on  Sun- 
day afternoons,  the  father  asking  the  questions  and  the 
mother  and  children  repeating  the  answers.  It  does 
not  seem  to  have  left  very  pleasant  memories  in  his 
mind,  for  the  bishop  has  been  heard  to  say  that  if  he 
wanted  to  punish  a  man  severely  he  would  compel  him 
to  study  the  Shorter  Catechism. 

If  the  records  in  the  old  Sunday-school  books,  show- 
ing us  how  the  good  boys  died  when  young,  be  a  true 
indication  of  goodness,  then  the  bishop  could  not  have 
been  a  very  model  boy,  for  he  survived  it  all  and  is 
living  yet.  There  were  two  things  for  which  he  did  not 
seem  to  have  a  very  great  fondness  :  he  was  not  pos- 
sessed of  an  intense  longing  for  work,  and  he  readily 
excused  himself  from  school.  The  Scotch-Irish  were 
perhaps  not  proverbial  for  their  industry,  and  he  might 
blame  his  disposition  on  his  ancestry.  Even  his  father 
did  not  dearly  love  hard  work.  As  to  his  carelessness 
about  school  and  his  lack  of  taste  for  the  place,  it  may 
in  ])art  be  due  to  the  unskillful  teachers  of  the  time.  He 
was  apt  to  learn,  yet  after  all  did  not  progress  rapidly. 


TWENTY-FIRST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.   501 

To  be  able  to  teach  penmanship,  reading  and  arithmetic 
and  to  be  able  to  flog  well  when  deemed  necessary,  and 
that  very  frequently,  was  the  chief  pedagogic  qualifica- 
tion in  these  days.  The  last  seemed  the  most  important 
and  therefore  most  possessed  it  in  a  high  degree. 

As  he  was  raised  on  a  farm,  he  knew  but  little  ex- 
cept going  to  school  to  ignorant  teachers  in  the  winter, 
and  hard  work  during  the  summer  while  at  home. 
When  a  little  past  thirteen  years  of  age  his  brother 
went  to  learn  a  trade,  and  he  had  to  take  more  than 
the  usual  amount  of  hard  work  on  himself.  There 
was  hardly  any  kind  of  farm  work  which  he  could  not 
do,  and  did  not  do  even,  at  that  early  age,  according  to 
the  methods  then  practiced. 

There  were  some  things  in  connection  with  his  school 
days  which  he  can  not  well  forget.  The  boys  who  did 
not,  or  could  not  study,  must  have  some  occupation. 
Pulling  ears,  snapping  the  fingers,  and  throwing  paper 
wads  were  of  not  unfrequent  occurrence.  "  Barring 
out  the  teacher,"  was  one  of  the  essentials  in  the  old 
curriculum,  and  w^hatever  else  might  be  imperfectly 
studied  or  wholly  omitted,  to  have  omitted  this  would 
have  been  highly  objectionable,  if  not  indeed  disgrace- 
ful. 

It  was  understood  that  on  such  occasions  as  Christ- 
mas and  New  Year's  the  pupils  were  entitled  to  a  treat 
from  their  teacher.  It  might  consist  of  apples,  candy, 
cakes,  or  whatever  he  chose,  but  it  must  be  something. 
It  was  his  duty  according  to  an  unwritten  law  and  their 
right  to  have  it.  At  one  time  Mr.  Huston,  a  relative 
of  his  mother,  a  man  of  some  culture  and  powerful 
muscle  was  the  teacher  for  the  winter.  It  was  plan- 
ned one  day  among  tlie  older  scholars,  that  while 
he  was  at  dinner  the    fortifying  of  the    schoolhouse 


502  JOHN    DICKSON, 

should  occur,  that  when  he  should  return  he  could  not 
find  entrance.  When  he  came  back  he  found  every- 
thing ready  for  a  siege — doore  and  windows  were  all  ef- 
fectually fastened.  He  sui'veyed  the  situation  for  a 
moment,  then  started  for  the  woods  and  soon  appeared 
wath  a  great  hickory  stick  in  his  hand.  Conrad  Baker, 
who  was  afterward  governor  of  Indiana,  was  one  of  the 
braves  on  this  occasion.  He  had  made  a  water-squirt, 
and  his  part  in  the  programme  was  to  squirt  boiling 
water  from  the  loft  above,  to  drive  back  the  besieging 
forces.  Huston  with  one  blow  broke  in  a  window, 
shutters  and  all.  This  so  alarmed  the  garrison  inside 
that  an  immediate  and  unconditional  surrender  was 
made.  It  is  not  known  what  became  of  Baker's  arms 
and  ammunition,  perhaps  he  kept  them  as  a  memento  of 
his  youthful  prowess,  but  it  is  very  certain  that  no 
one  was  driven  back  with  boiling  water  that  day.  A 
few  days  after  this  the  pupils  had  all  the  cakes,  apples 
and  cider  they  wanted. 

There  was  a  similar  occasion  which  we  may  men- 
tion. Samuel  B.  Smith  was  above  the  average  as  a 
teacher,  but  he  was  high  strung  and  a  little  too  fond 
of  strong  drink,  as  w^ere  many  of  the  teachers  and 
mdeed  others  of  that  day.  Smith  was  barred  out  in 
due  form,  and  became  in  consequence  very  much  en- 
raged. He  said  if  he  could  get  at  them,  he  would  light 
on  them  as  a  hawk  does  on  a  chicken.  When  he 
found  he  could  not  frighten  them,  he  concluded  to  fas- 
ten the  pupils  in  so  they  could  not  get  out,  and  he  did 
his  very  best.  The  pupils,  anticipating  something 
of  the  kind,  had  prepared  for  such  an  emergency. 
Sallie  Bratten,  a  cousin  of  the  Dickson's,  had  been  sta- 
tioned some  distance  away  in  the  w^oods,  and  as  soon  as 


TWENTY-FIRST  BISIIuP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  503 

Mr.  Smith  had  left,  she  tore  down  the  outside  barri- 
cades, and  out  wallvcd  tlie  garrison  triumphantly.  In 
a  day  or  two  they  were  treated  with  hot  toddy  and 
cakes,  of  which  the  teacher  himself  partook  very 
freely,  and  some  of  the  boys,  who,  perhaps,  did  not  un- 
derstand the  nature  of  the  toddy,  went  home  a  little 
"  funny." 

When  the  nature  of  the  schools  is  taken  into  consid- 
eration, it  is  a  constant  wonder  that  children  ever  learned 
as  much  as  they  did.  But  few  of  the  teachers  were  in 
any  proper  sense  qualified  for  their  work.  There  were 
such  frequent  changes,  sometimes  from  better  to  worse, 
and  then  from  worse  to  better.  The  schoolhouses  and 
accommodations  were  very  poor.  No  effort  was  made 
to  make  the  school  room  an  inviting  place.  Knowledge 
ol)tained  under  difficulties  was  perhaps  thought  to  be 
tlje  most  valuable  kind.  The  helps  in  the  way  of 
books  were  in  keeping  with  the  teachers  and  surround- 
ings. The  spelling  book  came  first,  the  Old  and  l:^ew 
Testament  for  reading,  and  arithmetic  with  slate  and 
penpil,  completed  the  list  of  books  as  usually  furnished. 

Mr.  Dickson  was  never  in  a  school  where  geography 
and  grammar  were  taught  until  after  he  was  sixteen 
years  of  age. 

When  the  bishop  goes  back  to  this  period  of  his  life 
he  can  count  eighteen  different  teachers  of  this  class, 
who  taught  and  thrashed  him  to  the  best  of  their  abil- 
ity. The  father  was  anxious  for  the  boy's  success,  and 
advised  and  lectured  upon  the  subject  whenever  he 
thought  it  necessary.  With  but  few  books  at  home 
and  poor  schools,  and  inefficient  teaching  away  from 
home,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  had  little  ap- 
petite for  knowledge,  and  was  not  ambitious  to  be  a 
scholar. 


504  JOHN   DICKSON, 

When  lie  was  about  sixteen  years  of  age  he  began 
to  see  and  feel  the  need  of  a  better  education.  He  then 
began  to  develop  a  taste  for  knowledge.  At  that  age 
his  services  were  needed  on  the  farm.  As  his  leisure 
time  would  allow  he  would  study  at  home,  and  thus 
lay  the  foundation  for  future  acquirements.  In  1839 
his  father  moved  to  Knox  county,  111.  Galesburg 
had  been  laid  out  not  long  before,  and  an  academy 
started.  He  entered  this  school  in  the  spring  of  1840, 
when  about  twenty  years  of  age.  He  soon  took  the  real 
Illinois  shakes,  which  in  that  day  were  no  trifling  mat- 
ter, and  they  got  the  advantage  of  him.  He  came 
home,  was  sick  all  summer,  and  the  next  spring,  when 
he  Avas  of  age,  he  started  for  Pennsylvania. 

He  commenced  teaching  school  when  about  seven- 
teen years  of  age.  Having  returned  to  Pennsylvania, 
and  with  nothing  special  on  hand,  he  returned  to  the 
school  room.  He  always  had  a  good  certificate,  and 
had  no  difficulty  in  finding  a  school,  and  the  presump- 
tion is  that  he  was  a  very  fair  teacher  and  gave  good 
satisfaction.  When  the  public  school,  which  was  held 
during  the  winter,  was  over,  he  usually  followed  it 
with  a  spring  term.  His  dislike  for  study  had  now 
disappeared,  but  his  dislike  for  hard  work  clung  to 
him. 

He  was  very  fond  of  fun  and  lively,  jovial  compan- 
ions. He  became  skillful  at  cards,  and  the  ball  room 
became  a  very  attractive  place.  There  was  hardly  any 
kind  of  worldly  amusement  that  did  not  have  a  fascina- 
tion for  him.  Life  meant  to  him,  what  it  meant  to 
many  young  men,  a  time  for  enjoyment,  regardless  of 
the  interests  that  hang  about  it.  But  God  meant  to 
use  him  for  other  purposes,  and  a  call  comes  to  him  so 


TWENTY-FIEST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  505 

strong  and  so  loud  that  he  hears  and  obeys.  In  November, 
1842,  he  attended  a  meeting  at  what  was  known  as  the 
Eed  Schoolhouse,  located  about  eight  miles  from 
Chambersburg.  Under  the  preaching  of  Kev.  J.  C. 
Smith,  a  young  man  in  the  first  year  of  his  ministry, 
Mr.  Dickson  became  deeply  convicted  of  sin,  and  on 
the  second  night  of  the  meeting  gave  his  heart  to  God 
and  united  with  the  church. 

His  conversion  was  a  little  out  of  the  ordinary  way 
of  doing  things  there.  His  reputation  as  a  gi-eat  lover 
of  fun  and  one  who  was  anxious  for  discussion  was 
such  that  the  preachers  had  a  dread  of  meeting  him. 
When  they  went  out  into  the  congregation  to  speak  to 
the  unconverted,  they  would  usually  pass  him  by  be- 
cause they  did  not  wish  to  encounter  him.  On  that 
Saturday  night  he  went  to  his  boarding  house  in  deep 
distress,  and  a  sleepless  night  did  not  make  the  matter 
any  better.  The  next  evening  he  went  to  the  prayer 
meeting  held  before  the  preaching  service,  as  was  the 
custom  then,  and  handed  the  preacher  a  note  asking  a 
private  interview  with  him.  They  went  out  together, 
and  as  they  walked  along  Mr.  Dickson  unburdened  his 
heart  to  him.  He  had  a  great  dislike  for  what  was  then 
called  "the  mourners'  bench,"  and  he  hoped  by  going 
out  in  this  way  to  escape  the  odium  that  in  his  own 
mind  attached  to  that  harmless  thing.  When  he  asked 
the  preacher's  advice,  he  told  him  that  he  could  do 
nothing  for  him  but  point  him  to  Jesus,  the  Saviour 
of  sinners.  They  went  down  into  the  woods  near  by, 
and  as  the  preacher  prayed  he  became  more  distressed 
than  ever.  On  the  way  back  to  the  schoolhouse,  the 
preacher  asked  Mr.  Dickson  if  he  was  willing  to  come 
forward  that  evening  as   a  penitent.      He  answered, 


506  JOHN    DICKSON, 

"Anywhere  to  get  rid  of  this  burden  of  sin."  On  that 
eventful  night  at  the  hated  mourners'  bench  he  found 
peace  in  believing.  A  gracious  revival  followed,  at 
which  about  thirty  souls  were  converted. 

We  have  said  in  a  previous  paragraph  that  Mr. 
Dickson  in  his  early  years  was  very  fond  of  discussion. 
The  village  and  country  debating  societies  not  onl}'- 
sharpened  his  appetite  for  this  kind  of  work,  but  helped 
to  briny:  out  whatever  of  mental  and  emotional  streno'th 
was  in  him. 

That  the  young  schoolmaster  at  this  time  was  no 
mean  antagonist  may  be  learned  from  the  following 
incident,  which  has  lately  come  to  our  knowledge.  Be- 
fore he  was  converted  he  undertook  the  task  of  de- 
molishing Universalism  and  Universalists,  in  a  public 
discussion  in  a  neighborhood  near  Greencastle,  Pa. 
Mr.  D.  Kuhn  was  his  antagonist,  and  each  leader  chose 
a  helper.  The  discussion  lasted  an  afternoon  and 
evening,  and  was  made  in  the  presence  of  a  crowded 
house.  Leaving  that  county  soon  after,  Mr.  Dickson 
did  not  know  what  effect  the  discussion  had  on  the  phice 
nor  how  the  people  received  it.  Almost  twenty  years 
after  that  time,  he  was  preaching  in  that  neighborhood 
and  was  entertained  by  one  of  the  old  citizens.  Dur- 
ing the  conversation  they  talked  of  the  debate  of 
former  years,  and  the  citizen  said  it  was  the  best 
thing  that  had  ever  occurred  in  that  community.  It 
proved  such  a  death  blow  to  this  heresy  that  its  advocates 
never  rallied;  its  preacher  ceased  his  visits  and  his 
preaching,  and  one  man  that  had  been  persuaded  to 
come  eight  or  ten  miles  that  he  might  be  confirmed  in 
the  faith  went  home  fully  satisfied  that  Universalism 
was  a  very  dangerous  error.  After  tlie  many  inter- 
vening yearSj  this  would  be  a  very  gratifying  report. 


TWENTY-FIRST  BISHOP  UNITKD  BRETHREN   IN  CHRIST.  507 

Very  soon  after  this  he  was  put  up  to  open  meet- 
ings, and  in  April,  184i,  was  granted  license  to  exhort, 
signed  by  John  Russel,  presiding  elder.  He  was  pushed 
forward  somewhat  rapidl\%  and  in  his  mature  years  it 
seemed  to  him  a  mistake,especially  in  view  of  his  past  life. 
Quarterly  conference  license  to  preach  was  granted  him 
at  a  camp  meeting  held  near  Littlestown,  Adams  county, 
and  bears  the  date  of  August  9th,  1845,  and  signed  by 
M.  Lohr,  presiding  elder.  After  traveling  a  year 
under  the  presiding  elder,  he  joined  the  Annual  Con- 
ference at  a  session  held  near  Carlisle,  Pa.,  March  12, 
181:7,  Bishop  Hanby  presiding.  He  was  ordained  at  a 
conference  held  in  York,  Pa.,  January  26,  A.  D.  1850, 
Bishop  Erbofiiciating.  A  somewhat  singular  providence 
led  him  into  the  active  work  of  the  ministry.  He  was 
teaching  school  in  the  winters  of  1845  and  1840,  near 
Keedysville,  Md.  John  Russel  lived  near  this  place, 
and  he  used  to  go  down  occasionally  and  spend  a  Sab- 
bath with  him.  His  school  was  broken  u])  by  the 
itch  getting  among  his  pupils.  He  closed  up,  went  to 
Russel,  and  started  with  him  in  his  buggy  to  conference, 
which  met  in  Springville,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.  As  a 
result  of  this  trip,  he  was  assigned  under  the  presiding 
elder  to  Perry  County  circuit.  It  took  four  days 
to  make  the  journey  which  can  now  be  made  in  less 
than  that  number  of  hours. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  circuit  was  new  terri- 
tory. On  the  wqrk  there  were  two  small  log  churches 
with  slab  seats,  without  backs.  The  remainder  of  the 
appointments,  eight  in  all,  were  in  schoolhouses  or  in 
private  dwellings.  The  people  received  the  young 
preacher  very  kindly,  and  he  passed  a  very  pleasant  and 
prosperous  year.  They  were  given  to  a  good  deal  of 
noise   and    other  demonstrations    in   their   meetings. 


508  JOHN    DICKSON, 

Once  when  Russel,  who  was  the  presiding  elder,  was 
preaching,  as  he  warmed  up  with  his  subject  a  sister, 
who  had  warmed  up  at  the  same  time,  gave  a  joyous 
scream  at  the  top  of  her  voice,  when  the  preacher 
stopped  and  said,  "  Hokl  up,  sister,  till  I  am  through, 
and  then  take  it  out."    She  held  up. 

The  people  on  this  work  were  plain  and  unsophisti- 
cated. The}'  treated  their  new  preacher  well,  and  paid 
him  $100  salary,  the  disciplinary  allowance  then.  He 
had  an  excellent  Christian  home  at  Father  Henry 
Young's,  who  boarded  himself  and  horse  gratuitously, 
as  was  the  rule  in  those  times.  The  next  conference 
was  held  near  Carlisle,  and  Hanby  presided,  although 
Russel  was  there  also.  This  was  the  first  session  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Conference,  after  the  East  Pennsyl- 
vania had  been  set  off.  Glossbrenner  presided.  It  Avas 
soon  after  his  election  for  the  first  time  to  the  bishop's 
office.  The  bishops  then,  as  now,  visited  the  confer- 
ences alternately,  Russel  presided  at  both  the  con- 
ferences of  1847  and  1848.  There  were  but  three  bish- 
ops at  this  time,  Russel,  Hanby  and  Glossbrenner. 
From  the  Hersh}'^  Conference  he  was  assigned  to  the 
Big  Spring  charge,  in  Cumberland  county,  Pa. 
A.  Owen  had  served  this  charge  the  previous  year,  and 
was  deservedl}''  popular  as  a  preacher  and  a  man.  As 
he  had  been  there  but  one  year,  there  was  a  good  deal 
of  dissatisfaction  at  his  removal ;  but  the  new  preacher 
did  not  find  this  out  until  the  year  w^s  nearly  out.  He 
was  blessed  with  an  excellent  revival  at  the  principal 
point,  so  he  was  able  to  take  a  good  report  to  confer- 
ence, and,  in  compliance  with  a  petition  sent  to  the 
conference,  he  was  returned  the  second  year,  although 
a  single  man. 


TWEXTY-FIKST  UISIIOP  UNITED  l^KEl'UKKN  IN  CHKIST.  5()!j 

Springfield,  the  village  here,  is  a  shabby  old  town, 
Avithout  enterprise  or  ambition  ;  but  the  natural  scenery 
is  very  romantic.  Several  large  springs  come  out 
from  an  amphitheater  of  hills,  flow  together  and  make 
quite  a  stream.  But  that  which  above  eveiything  else 
makes  him  remember  this  field  of  labor  and  this  3'ear's 
work,  is  the  fact  that  here  he  found  the  woman  who 
was  to  aid  him  in  his  future  ministerial  work,  in  the 
person  of  Mary  Jane  Adair,  to  whom  he  was  married 
November  14,  1848.  Eev.  J.  C.  Smith,  his  spiritual 
father,  officiated  at  the  wedding.  It  was  a  kind  of 
universal  law  in  the  Pennsylvania  conferences  in  those 
days,  that  a  young  minister  must  not  marry  until  he 
had  completed  his  three  years  in  the  active  work,  and 
finished  his  course  of  reading.  He  had  carefully  ob- 
served this  rule,  and  there  were  therefore  no  impedi- 
ments in  the  way  of  his  marriage.  His  wife  was,  like 
himself,  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  reared  under 
United  Presbyterian  influences.  The  United  Brethren 
preacher  and  the  United  Presbyterian  girl  were  united 
for  better  or  for  worse,  and  the  union  is  still  complete, 
only  to  be  broken  when  the  grim  messenger  shall  come, 
which  we  hope  will  be  many  years  hence.  During 
all  the  years  of  toil  and  hardsiii]5  which  must  come  to 
every  itinerant  minister,  and  of  which  burdens  his  wife 
must  bear  a  large  part,  Mrs.  Dickson  has  shown  herself 
a  faithful,  devoted.  Christian  wife,  a  worthy  helpmeet  in 
every  sense  of  the  word. 

The  first  3^ear  he  was  on  the  charge  he  had  his  home 
with  Brother  David  Brandt,  who,  Avitli  his  family,  was 
ver\'  kind  to  him,  and  was  a  faithful  friend  as  long  as 
he  lived.  The  next  year  he  lived  with  Brother  Jacob 
Keller,  who  owned  the   house  in   which  he  preached. 


510  JOHN    DICKSON, 

It  liad  been  a  distillery  in  former  years,  and  was  built 
over  one  of  the  springs.  The  audience  room  was  above, 
and  the  stairs  by  whicli  it  was  reached  were  on  the 
outside  of  the  building.  It  was  supplanted  some  years 
afterward  by  a  new  brick  building  in  another  part  of 
the  village.  This  place  was  made  memorable  on  ac- 
count of  an  Annual  Conference  held  at  Father  Kan- 
aga's.  A  room  was  fitted  up  by  Father  Kanaga  in  the 
upper  part  of  his  residence,  with  stairs  on  the  outside, 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  conference.  Here  the 
fathers  met  for  council,  no  one,  not  even  the  owner  of 
the  house,  being  allowed  to  be  present.  The  stairs 
were  still  standing,  and  the  room  left  as  it  had  been 
prepared  when  Mr.  Dickson  went  there  to  preach,  but 
now  church  and  stairs  and  house  are  all  gone.  Not- 
withstanding the  general  roughness  of  the  place,  the 
hills,  and  rocks,  and  woods,  he  enjoyed  the  work  here 
verv  much.  Its  quiet  gave  him  good  opportunities  for 
reading  and  study,  which  he  improved,  applying  him- 
self so  closely  to  study  as  to  injure  his  health  for  the 
time  being. 

While  at  this  place,  he  was  awakened  one  night  to 
go  to  see  a  sick  man,  who  lived  about  three  miles  away. 
He  and  the  doctor  started  together  to  visit  the  man,  to 
see  what  could  be  done  for  soul  and  body.  They 
found  the  man  to  be  very  sick,  and  were  sure  he  was 
about  to  die,  and  was  not  ready  for  the  change.  How 
very  penitent  he  became,  and  what  vows  and  promises 
he  made  as  to  how  he  would  live  if  he  only  should  get 
well  again  !  By  careful  nursing  he  did  get  well,  and 
was  reputed  to  have  become  more  wicked  than  ever 
before.  This  case,  with  others  of  like  kind,  did  not 
produce  in  the  mind  of  Mr.  Dickson  a  very  strong 
conviction  in  favor  of  death-bed  repentances. 


TWENTY-FIRST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  511 

The  stay  of  one  year  at  Father  Keller's  was  all  that 
could  be  desired  in  the  way  of  comfort  and  pleasant 
surroundings.  Old  Mother  Keller,  the  wife,  was  one  of 
the  best  of  women,  tender-hearted  and  kind.  Her 
home  was  a  great  place  for  visitors,  perhaps  we  had 
better  say  boarders,  at  big  meetings;  and  for  whom  she 
could  not  do  too  much.  She  was  the  daughter  of  the 
Kanaga  referred  to  elsewhere,  and  had  from  lier  child- 
hood been  trained  to  entertain  preachers  and  people, 
and  to  do  so  with  pleasure.  "When  she  was  young 
nothing  was  thought  of  traveling  forty  miles  on  horse- 
back to  attend  a  big  meeting.  The  people  went  for  a 
purpose,  and  they  returned,  feeling  that  the  time  and 
labor  had  not  been  spent  in  vain.  They  did  not  in 
those  days  have  missionary,  church-erection,  or  Sunday 
school  organizations,  as  we  have  to-day,  but  they  had  a 
good  deal  of  heart  love,  and  heart  earnestness,  which 
at  times  seem  to  be  lacking  in  too  many  places,  and 
with  too  many  of  our  own  people  of  to-day. 

It  was  during  this  year  that  he  was  written  to 
concerning  the  editorship  of  the  Religious  Telescope. 
His  own  name  and  that  of  John  Lawrence  were  before 
the  authorities  as  suitable  persons  for  the  place.  He 
declined  to  be  considered  a  candidate  at  all.  Seven  years 
after,  when  Bishop  Edwards  had  charge  of  the  Zhiity 
Magazine  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Dickson  and  urged  him  to 
consent  to  become  editor  of  that  short-lived  periodical. 
He  had  a  strong  aversion  to  the  confined  life  which 
such  a  man  must  live.  He  would  be  outside  to  enjoy  the 
pure  air  and  the  genial  sunshine.  This  was  one  reason 
why  he  declined  to  teach  school,  and  why  he  always 
enjoyed  a  circuit  more  than  a  station,  when  in  the  act- 
ive ministry.  The  bishop's  office  gave  him  an  oppor- 
tunity to   indulge  in  this  busy,  active,  out-door   life, 


512  JOHN    DICKSON, 

where  lie  could  come  in  contact  not  only  with  nature, 
but  with  the  busy  masses  whose  welfare  he  was  seek- 
ing. 

The  Pennsylvania  Conference,  at  its  first  separate 
session,  in  1847,  reported  thirteen  small  charges,  with  a 
membership  of  about  2,000  communicants.  The  strong 
men  of  the  conference  were  J.  Russel,  George  Miller 
and  A.  Owen.  Russel  was  a  man  of  giant  mind, 
which  was  well  matured  by  self-culture.  He  preached 
usually  in  German,  but  did  very  well  in  English.  George 
Miller  was  an  able  man  in  the  pulpit,  a  wise  counselor 
and  an  exemplary  Christian.  Owen  became  in  after 
years  one  of  the  ablest  thinkers  and  most  polished 
speakers  of  the  church.  It  is  questionable  if  the  church 
then  or  since  has  seen  his  superior.  John  Fohl  was, 
perhaps,  the  most  efficient  man  of  the  conference  in  the 
practical  work  of  the  ministry,  although  but  ordinary 
in  the  pulpit.  J.  C.  Smith  was  arising  young  man,  and 
became  a  very  fair  preacher,  and  effective  in  all  the  de- 
partments of  a  minister's  work,  preaching  well  in  both 
German  and  English.  G.  A.  Colestock  and  "W.  B.  Ra- 
ber  entered  the  work  in  the  Pennsylvania  Conference 
soon  after  Mr.  Dickson  did,  and  both  became  promi- 
nent men,  preaching  on  the  best  charges,  serving  as 
presiding  elders,  and  a  number  of  times  as  delegates  to 
the  General  Conferences.  Raber  died  in  York,  several 
years  ago;  Colestock  is  enjoying  a  pleasant  home,  al- 
though in  somewhat  feeble  health,  at  Mechanicsburg, 
Pa. 

At  the  Herrsh}^  Conference  the  educational  question 
came  up  after  this  manner:  The  Allegheny  Conference, 
at  its  previous  session,  had  taken  steps  to  establish  a 
college  to  be  located  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  within  her  own 


TWENTY -FIRST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  513 

boundaries,  and  had  appointed  a  committee  of  two  to 
visit  the  Pennsylvania  Conference  and  solicit  coopera- 
tion. This  failed  by  a  large  majority,  mainly  for  the 
following-  reasons :  A  number  of  the  older  members,  in 
the  main  led  by  Russel,  were  opposed  to  high  schools, 
as  they  called  them  ;  others  thought  they  should  have 
been  consulted  before  the  location  had  been  determined 
upon,  and  did  not  feel  like  cooperating  until  they  were 
assured  that  Mt.  Pleasant  was  a  proper  place.  Otter- 
bein  University  (Blendon  Young  Men's  Seminary)  had 
just  been  purchased,  and  it  was  thought  they  had  bet- 
ter not  be  too  hasty  but  wait  and  see  how  it  would  go 
with  the  Ohio  school.  This  latter  was  the  view  taken 
by  Mr.  Dickson,  and  so  he  stands  on  the  record.  Owen 
and  Dickson  afterward  went  to  Mt.  Pleasant  as  trust- 
ees of  the  college  from  their  own  conference.  At  that 
time  the}^  needed  a  president,  and  Dickson's  name  was 
mentioned  as  a  candidate.  Owen  was  chosen,  and  in 
Dickson's  judgment  the  college  never  did  a  wiser  thing 
than  when  the  management  made  that  choice. 

After  serving  Hershy  station  one  year,  and  Big 
Spring  a  year,  he  was,  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  ministry, 
appointed  to  Chambersburg  station.  It  was  at  this 
time  in  a  very  dilapidated  condition.  The  church 
building  was  old  and  shabby,  and  in  danger  of  falling 
down,  and  although  w^e  had  a  number  of  excellent 
Christian  people  in  the  church,  we  were  poor,  and  for 
reasons  not  to  be  named  here,  somewhat  in  disgrace. 
Something  had  to  be  done,  and  done  quickly.  In  the 
second  year  he  was  there,  A.  D.  1852,  he  undertook, 
in  the  midst  of  all  these  discouraging  circumstances, 
to  build  a  new  church.  The  salvation  of  the  congrega- 
tion seemed  to  depend  upon  the  success  of  the  enter- 


51.1:  JOHN  DICKSON, 

prise.  He  did  nearly  all  the  soliciting  and  collecting 
himself,  and  after  much  effort  saw  a  brick  building  of 
one  story,  forty  by  sixty  feet,  completed  and  dedicated 
to  Almighty  God.  It  was  at  that  time  the  best  church 
in  the. bounds  of  the  Pennsylvania  Conference,  and  we 
are  not  sure  that  the  church  had  a  better  building  srny- 
where.  This  enterprise  put  a  new  life  and  a  new  zeal 
into  the  congregation.  The  people  now  concluded 
they  were  going  to  stay  in  Chambersburg.  Mr.  Dick- 
son was  here  for  three  years.  During  the  summer  of 
1852  the  cholera  raged  in  Chambersburg,  but  he  re- 
mained faithful  to  his  work,  and  did  not  leave  it  for  a 
day.  Many  fell  victims  to  the  unrelenting  scourge, 
among  whom  were  some  of  the  very  best  citizens.  Aft- 
er eight  years  of  absence  he  returned  again,  and  for 
four  more  years  he  served  this  congregation. 

During  the  eight  years  of  absence  he  served  as 
presiding  elder  for  two  years,  and  four  years  on 
Shopp's  station.  It  was  called  a  station,  but  was  at 
this  time  an  inner  circuit,  embracing  Avhat  are  now 
known,  besides  Shopp's  charge,  asMechanicsburg,  Kew 
Cumberland,  West  Fairview  and  Yocumtown.  He 
had  a  junior  preacher  with  him  and  each  one  went 
round  the  circuit  every  four  weeks.  They  had  great 
prosperity  in  the  way  of  revivals  and  accessions  to  the 
church.  Three  new  churches  were  built.  There  was 
also  the  beginning  of  good  times  for  Mechanicsburg. 
There  had  been  preaching  for  some  years  in  the  old 
union  meeting  house,  but  little  had  been  accomplished. 
It  was  apparent  to  Mr.  Dickson  that  but  little  would 
be  done  until  we  had  a  house  of  our  own.  During  the 
second  year  that  he  was  on  the  charge,  by  a  vigorous 
effort   a  two-story  brick   building,  forty-eight   feet  by 


TWENTY-FIRST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  515 

sixty  front,  was  erected.  From  that  time  it  grew 
rapidly.  Soon  after,  it  was  made  a  station  and  is  now 
among  tlie  strong  charges  of  the  conference.  During 
tliese  four  years  his  colleagues  were  Samuel  Dietrich,  H. 
Y.  Hiemelbaugh,  Jacob  Wilt  and  Prof.  D.  Eberly,  all 
worthy  and  efficient  young  men,  and  all  now  dead  but 
Eberly.  One  of  the  evidences  of  growth  is  the  divid- 
ing up  of  large  charges  and  the  building  of  churches. 

When  in  the  spring  of  1862  he  was  appointed  for 
the  second  time  lo  the  Chambersburg  station,  he  found 
some  subscriptions  had  been  taken  for  a  parsonage.  He 
took  hold  of  this  work,  pushed  it  forward,  built  the 
house  and  occupied  it  the  same  fall.  When  he  first 
w^ent  to  Chambersburg  he  found  Jacob  Hoke  to  be  one 
of  the  most  active  members  of  the  church,  and  the 
longer  he  was  there  the  more  valuable  did  his  services 
become.  He  was  trustee  of  the  church,  secretary  of  the 
quarterly  conference  and  official  meeting,  class  leader, 
taught  a  weekly  Bible  class,  was  a  wise  counselor  and 
a  liberal  contributor  to  all  the  interests  of  the  church. 
The  Chambersburg  congregation  most  probably  never 
had  a  more  worthy  or  more  useful  member.  Though 
not  serving  in  any  of  these  capacities,  he  is  still  a 
member  and  regular  attendant  of  the  services  of  the 
church.  He  keeps  on  praying,  does  a  good  deal  of 
preaching  here  and  there,  and  manifests  as  much  zeal 
for  true  Christianity  and  for  the  church  as  ever. 

During  the  twenty-two  years  which  Mr.  Dickson 
spent  as  a  stationed  and  circuit  preacher,  his  labors 
were  blessed  with  revivals  on  all  the  charges,  and  on 
some  with  very  remarkable  revivals.  The  records  of 
his  conference  will  show  that  he  never  left  a  charge 
Avithout  leavino-  it  in  a  better  condition   than  when  he 


516  JOHN   DICKSON, 

found  it.  Pro'bably  none  of  his  brethren  in  his  confer- 
ence have  done  more  toward  the  building  up  of  the  in- 
terests of  tlie  church  and  of  the  conference  than  he  has. 
With  the  exception  of  his  first  year,  his  whole  itinerant 
life  has  been  spent  in  Franklin  and  Cumberland  coun- 
ties. As  he  nears  the  period  in  life  when  his  more  act- 
ive labors  must  cease,  it  must  be  a  real  gratification  to 
look  back  ahd  see  the  progress  the  church  has  made 
when  he  was  permitted  to  labor,  and  that  with  others 
of  his  brethren  he  was  permitted  in  God's  providence 
to  help  bring  about  this  result.  He  is  now  the  only 
itinerant  left  in  the  active  work,  that  was  in  the  confer- 
ence when  he  began. 

In  1861  he  was  a  delegate,  for  the  first  time,  to  the 
General  Conference.  It  met  at  "Westerville,  Ohio.  J. 
C.  Smith  and  "W.  B.  Raber  were  his  colleagues.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  every  Geperal  Conference,  either 
by  election  or  ex  officio,  from  that  time  until  the  pres- 
ent. At  this  conference  there  was  a  good  deal  of  at- 
tention paid  to  the  secrecy  question.  A  case  from 
Sandusky  Conference  was  up  under  an  appeal,  and  after 
a  number  of  flaming  speeches,  a  strong  paper  was 
j)assed,  nearly  unanimously  making  connection  with 
secret  societies  an  immoralit\'.  It  was  at  this  meeting 
that  for  the  first  time  he  met  with  Isaac  Kretsinger, 
familiarly  known  as  "  ]Jncle  Ike."  After  he  made  his 
first  speech  he  never  lacked  for  listeners.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  whoever  else  may  change  his  mind  on  this 
question,  there  is  not  now  and  never  has  been  any 
question  as  to  where  "  Uncle  Ike "  stands.  At  this 
conference  Rev.  J.  Mark  wood  was  first  elected  to  the 
bishop's  office.  Rev.  Dr.  L.  Davis  went  out  of  the 
office  to  take  the  presidency  of  Otterbein  University. 
Henry  Knmler,  Jr.,  was  elected  (Tcrman  bishop. 


TWENTY-FIKST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  517 

•  The  General  Conference  of  1865  was  held  at  West- 
ern, Iowa.  Nothing-  of  special  interest  occurred  here, 
except  that  wlien  the  news  of  the  capture  of  Jefferson 
Davis  reached  the  conference  room,  it  produced  quite 
a  sensation,  and  a  general  good  feeling  was  the  result. 
At  this  time  and  place  J.  Weaver  was  elected  bishop. 

The  General  Conference  of  1869  met  at  Leb- 
anon, Pa.  Here,  unexpectedly  to  himself,  he  was 
first  honored  in  being  elected  on  first  ballot  to  the 
bishop's  office  and  work,  and  was  assigned  to  the  West 
Mississippi  district.  lie  has  been  reelected  to  the  same 
position  at  every  General  Conference  since  that  time, 
and  is  now  in  the  last  year  of  his  fifth  term,  making 
twenty  years  in  all. 

His  extensive  revival  work,  and  the  wear  and  tear  of 
body  and  mind  growing  out  of  such  arduous  labors, 
were  having  their  effect  upon  a  constitution  never  very 
strong.  Had  it  not  been  that  the  nature  of  his  work 
was  changed,  in  all  human  probability  he  would  have 
been  compelled  to  have  given  up  the  active  ministry 
long  since.  To  this  extent  his  election'to  the  bishop's 
office  was  a  gain  to  him,  and  probably  lengthened  out 
his  active  life.  It  seriously  interfered  with  his  studies. 
In  the  earlier  part  of  his  life,  he  had  overdone  in  this, 
and  had  somewhat  impaired  his  health.  But  this 
necessary  traveling  from  place  to  place,  and  the  diver- 
sion of  the  mind  from  too  close  application  to  stud}^ 
seemed  to  invigorate  him,  and  in  all  human  probability 
added  years  to  his  usefulness.  Some  time  after  he  had 
been  in  the  office,  he  was  inquired  of  whether  the  church 
had  not  come  to  a  point  where  the  office  of  bishop  could 
not  be  dispensed  with,  and  he  gave  in  substance,  as  we 
now  remember,  about    the   following  answer:  "The 


518  JOHN    DICKSON, 

bishop's  ofRce  is  not  one  of  much  honor  or  authority  in 
the  United  Brethren  Church." 

"  Unless  matters  should  materially  change,  the 
church  need  have  no  fear  of  a  hierarchy.  There  are  some 
advantages  in  a  quadrennial  election  of  bishops,  but, 
take  it  all  in  all,  a  life  term  has  many  advantages.  The 
Methodist  brethren  have  fully  tried,  and  have  ex- 
pressed no  general  dissatisfaction  with  it.  In  our  present 
condition  we  could  not  well  do  without  these  oiRcers. 
At  present  one  of  their  principal  duties  is  the  soliciting 
of  money  at  church  dedications.  "Whoever  can  do  this 
well  has  one  of  the  elements  of  a  successful  bishop. 
The  districting  of  the  church  is  a  good  arrangement, 
but  the  bishop  should  be  allowed  to  remain  eight  con- 
ecutive  years  on  his  district,  if  he  is  expected  to  reside 
on  it. 

"  The  greatest  danger  to  be  feared  will  be  from  our 
ambition.  Seeking  to  be  great  rather  than  good  will 
often  lead  to  building  up  societies  regardless  of  piety. 
It  is  not  the  water  outside,  but  that  inside  which  sinks 
the  ship.  So  with  the  church  when  the  Avorld  throngs 
her  pale.  As  a  denomination  we  have  but  little  out- 
side of  our  piety  to  depend  upon.  Other  denomina- 
tions have  numbers,  wealth,  political  and  literary  pres- 
tige. We  are  among  the  smaller  denominations,  and 
made  up  mostly  of  poor  people.  We  have  no  author 
who  has  a  reputation  outside  of  our  own  denomination, 
and  we  have  no  one  in  the  high  places  of  the  nation. 
If  we  lack  in  piety,  we  have  nothing  to  build  on,  noth- 
ing to  commend  us  to  the  people." 

Of  the  bishop's  family,  the  following  will  interest 
the  public:  William  A.,  the  oldest  son,  graduated 
from     a     commercial    school    in    Philadelphia,     was 


TWENTY-FIKST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  519 

afterward  converted  and  graduated  at  Union  Bib- 
lical Seminary,  at  Dayton,  Ohio.  He  spent  several 
years  in  the  active  ministry.  He  is  now  book- 
keeper in  the  United  Brethren  Publishing  House,  at 
Dayton,  Ohio.  He  married  a  Miss  Kuhn,  of  Cham- 
bersburg,  Pa.,  and  they  have  three  interesting  chil- 
dren— a  girl  and  two  boys.  John  D.,  tlie  second  son,  is 
a  carpenter,  a  good  workman  and  a  good  worker.  He 
married  a  Miss  Cowan,  of  Columbus,  Ohio.  He  is  liv- 
ing in  Chicago,  and  doing  well.  They  have  one  child. 
Charles  K.  travels  most  of  the  time,  and  is  unmarried. 
Clarence  B.  is  a  graduate  of  Otterbein  Univei'sity,  and 
also  of  a  medical  college  in  Cleveland,  Ohio.  He  is 
now  located  in  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  He  married  a  Miss 
Rosencrans,  formerly  of  Westerville,  Ohio,  and  they 
have  one  child  living.  Madge,  the  oldest  daughter,  is 
also  a  graduate  of  Otterbein  University,  and  of  a  Cleve- 
land medical  college.  She  has  been  practicing  medi- 
cine at  Dayton,  Ohio,  with  marked  success.  Mary 
Alice,  also,  is  a  graduate  of  Otterbein  University.  She 
spent  about  three  years  after  her  graduation  at  the  Erie 
Conference  Seminary,  as  principal  of  the  ladies'  depart- 
ment, and  made  a  fine  record  as  a  teacher  and  discipli- 
narian. She  is  now  taking  post-graduate  studies  at 
Wellesley  College,  Mass.,  and  expects  to  devote  her 
life  to  teaching.  Jennie  May,  the  youngest,  is  still  at 
home,  and  is  the  solace  and  comfort  of  the  parents,  as 
they  travel  down  the  declivity  of  life. 

Bishop  Dickson  for  a  long  time  has  been  a  faithf  id  cor- 
respondent of  the  press  of  the  church.  For  a  time  he 
was  so  by  appointment,  but  he  has  written  freely,  and 
still  writes  for  the  Telescope.  His  style  is  plain,  clear, 
pointed  and  expressive.     His  busy  life  has  made  him  a 


620  JOHN   DICKSON, 

practical  man,  hence  bis  writings  are  raainlj'^  on  that 
particular  line.  While  wo  may  not  always  accept  his 
views,  he  puts  them  clearly,  forcibly,  and  without 
equivocation.  We  may  not  always  believe  in  what  he 
says,  but  we  are  sure  he  believes  so.  He  has  written 
nothing  foolish.  lie  writes  to  be  understood,  and  the 
average  reader  knows  what  lie  means.  The  same  dis- 
position which  ci'ops  out  in  his  conversation,  and  makes 
him  such  a  genial  companion,  shows  itself  at  times  in 
a  quiet  way  in  his  writing.  As  an  example  of  this  we 
insert  the  following  from  a  communication  in  the  Tel- 
esco])eol  1869,  page  209:  "The  mere  appearance  of 
the  preacher  will  sometimes  tell  loudly  of  the  conceit 
that  lies  ^vithin  him.  Instead  of  a  plain,  homely-clad, 
unassuming  minister  of  Him  who  was  meek  and  lowly, 
he  is  fixed  up  in  the  latest  style  of  dandyism,  his  hair 
well  oiled  and  carefully  roached,  his  tie  and  choker 
fastidiously  arranged,  his  glittering  chain  dangling  at 
his  side,  all  as  fine  as  a  new  pin.  Were  3^ou  to  meet 
him  anywhere  else  you  would  hardly  suspect  anything 
above  a  fop.  A  discerning  man  would  suspect  that  all 
that  gaudy  array  is  intended  to  cover  up  a  conscious 
deficiency  of  brains.  Not  so  with  the  preacher,  he 
thinks  brains  and  broadcloth  should  correspond,  and  it 
would  be  a  disrespect  to  so  much  mind  to  appear  in 
common  apparel." 

We  did  not  know  the  bishop  in  his  earlier  3^ears, 
when  in  his  physical  prime,  but  in  his  later  years  we 
find  him,  not  noisy  or  boisterous,  seeking  to  make  up 
for  lack  of  thought  by  a  more  than  usual  manifesta- 
tion of  lungs,  but  an  earnest,  plain,  simple  preacher  of 
divine  truth,  aiming  to  bring  home  God's  word  with 
the  least  amount  of  verbiage,  and  with  an  artless  man- 


TWENTY-FIRST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  521 

ner  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  the  hearer.  The 
ideal  which  he  has  himself  held  up  to  young  men  in 
his  diocese,  he  seeks  to  follow  himself.  "  Let  the  min- 
ister feel  in  his  own  soul  the  weight  of  God's  truth,  the 
value  of  an  immortal  spirit.  Let  him  remember  it  is  a 
matter  of  life  and  death  to  his  hearer ;  that  he  is  deal- 
ing with  eternal  things,  and  that  the  great  God  is  to 
sit  in  judgment  upon  his  soul,  and  he  will  not  have  to 
'put  on  ewrnestnessP 

He  alwa3^s  has  a  word  of  cheer  for  young  men 
who  are  seeking  to  prepare  themselves  for  the  work  to 
which  Jhe  Master  has  called  them,  and  especially  if  they 
have  not  had  the  advantages  which  others  may  have 
had,  and  he  has  nothing  but  reproof  and  displeasure 
for  them  who  have  no  ambition  to  show  themselves 
workmen  approved  of  God.  What  an  inspiration  in 
these  words  to  the  3^oung  men  for  whom  they  were  in- 
tended :  "  It  our  young  men  will  rise  to  eminence,  they 
must  depend  upon  themselves,  not  others.  They  must 
realize  that  their  powers  are  from  God;  that  they  are 
responsible  to  Ilim  for  their  cultivation  and  their  use, 
and  that  if  they  would  be  men  of  might  they  must  not 
be  satisfied  with  simply  passing  through  the  hands  of 
an  examining  committee.  They  may  do  that  and  re- 
main intellectual  dwarfs  all  their  lives.  They  must 
cherish  a  desire,  not  only  to  be  equal  with  their  breth- 
ren, but  to  be  superior  to  them,  not  for  the  sake  of  a 
greater  name  but  for  the  sake  of  being  more  useful. 
To  this  end  they  must  husband  their  time,  they  must 
have  system  in  their  studies,  they  must  apply  theni; 
selves  day  and  night,  that  they  may  be  master  work- 
men. Indeed,  if  a  young  minister  has  little  or  no  desire 
for  intellectual  treasures,  r.ll  the  instructors,  counselors,^ 


522  JOHN    DICKSON, 

conferences  and  books  in  the  universe  can  not  make  a 
man  of  him;  and  if  diligent  and  persevering  in  his  stud- 
ies ;  if  he  feels  that  his  destiny,  under  God,  is  in  his  own 
hands,  and  acts  accordingly,  he  need  not  be  a  whit  be- 
hind the  chiefest  of  his  brethren." 

If  the  men  who  see  the  pitfalls  in  the  way  and  point 
them  out  in  clear,  plain  terms  to  those  who  are  in 
danger  of  falling  therein,  are  worthy  of  honor,  then  the 
young  men  of  his  own  conferences,  if  not,  indeed,  the 
whole  church,  owe  him  thanks  for  such  wholesome 
council  as  follows :  "  It  is  the  misfortune  of  some 
young  men  to  become  prematurely  popular.  It  is  usually 
a  great  calamity,  and  one  which  indiscreet  men  and 
w^omen  often  have  much  to  do  in  bringing  about. 
When  a  young  minister  learns  that  he  is  "  petitioned 
for,"  and  when  in  a  dozen  different  wa3'^s  he  is  praised 
to  his  face,  he  must  know  himself  well  if  he  is  not 
spoiled,  sometimes  badly  spoiled,  by  it.  It  is  time  he 
ought  to  know  that  these  people  who  commend  his 
excellence  in  this  way  are  generally  very  poor  judges 
of  true  merit.  But,  inflated  with  motives  of  self-great- 
ness, he  is  apt  to  conclude  that  further  toil  in  the  path 
of  improvement  is  needless;  when  he  should  be  on  the 
way  for  still  higher  attainments,  pressing  forward  in 
the  race  for  a  laudable  superiority,  he  sits  down  content 
to  spend  the  rest  of  his  days  in  the  enjoyment  of  his 
easily  gained  hollow  popularity.  He  should  know  that 
if  he  aims  at  nothing  higher  than  popularity  ;  his  course 
is  a  foolish  one.  As  he  has  covenanted  to  give  his  best 
powers  to  the  service  of  God,  it  is  highly  criminal." 
{Telescope,  1869,  page  201). 

Before  we  came  to  know  Bishop  Dickson,  the  im- 
jpression  was  left  upon  us  that  he  was  not  in   very 


TWEXTY-FIRST  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.   523 

earnest  sympathy  with  the  educational  work  of  the 
church.  We  gathered  this  jiossibly  from  the  action 
of  his  conference  on  this  subject  in  1847. 

We  are  now  sure  that  we  held  liim  responsible  for 
that  which  the  conference  did,  and  which  he  did  not 
favor.  He  may  not  have  been  so  ardent  at  times  as 
some  of  us  who  are  younger  in  years,  but  a  man  could 
not  have  written  and  talked  as  he  did,  and  be  opposed 
to  education.  '  Is  there  one  of  us  who  could  not  most 
heartily  indorse  the  following :  "  If  the  minister  can 
have  the  advantages  of  school  training,  so  much  the 
better,  but  he  must  not  be  disheartened  in  the  race  for 
eminence  if  denied  them.  In  point  of  mental 
strength,  and  in  capacity  for  usefulness,  he  may  far 
excel  others  who  have  been  dignified  with  a  parch- 
ment, and  who  boast  of  some  initial  affixes  to  their 
names.  There  are  intellectual  giants  who  have  never 
been  favorites  of  the  schools.  It  will,  we  presume,  be 
true  in  all  cases,  that  men  will  never  go  above  their 
standard.  Many  young  men  will  remain  intellectual 
dwarfs  all  their  life  simply  because  they  do  not  desire 
to  excel,  when  they  should  be  vigorously  pressing  on- 
ward to  higher  and  still  higher  eminence  in  the  do- 
main  of  knowledge.  They  are  content  to  pass  from 
circuit  to  circuit,  preaching  the  same  sermons  over  and 
over  again.  Oh,  what  a  body  of  able  men  we  would 
have  to  labor  in  the  Christian  vineyard  if  all  our 
ministers  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  cultivate  to  the 
utmost  the  powers  that  God  has  given  them !  " 

We  were  once  on  a  church  board  with  the  bishop, 
when  another  member  of  the  board  was  urging  some 
particular  line  of  policy,  which  the  bishop  did  not 
exactly  approve.    At  the  close  of  the  session  this  same 


524:  ^  JOHN    DICKSON. 

member  said  in  our  hearing,  "  Bishop  Dickson  is  one  of 
the  best  men  I  ever  saw  to  show  how  a  thing  canH  he 
done.''''  It  was  said  in  a  little  excitement,  and  perhaps 
not  meant  to  be  complimentary,  and  yet,  after  all,  was 
it  not  a  compliment  to  the  man?  The  man  who  con- 
templates building  a  tower,  we  are  told,  will  count  the 
cost,  and  any  thoughtful,  prudent  man  will  foresee  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  before  he  ventures  ahead  with 
any  policy.  As  we  know  him,  the  bishop  is  careful, 
prudent,  cautious  in  his  own  private  matters,  and 
should  be  so  in  all  others  where  vital  interests  are  at 
stake.  As  an  indication  that  he  looks  before  he  places 
his  feet,  during  the  nineteen  years  that  he  has  been 
presiding  at  the  conferences,  only  twice  have  his  rulings 
been  appealed  from,  and  in  both  of  these  cases  he  was 
sustained  by  the  conferences. 


,yft<^^^€£^^Wt^^p^^<^ 


REV.  MILTON  WRIGHT,  D.  D„ 
TWENTY-SECOND  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


THE  ancestors  of  Bishop  Wright,  in  his  family 
name,  Avere  originally  from  England,  but  for 
several  generations  have  been  of  American  birth.  So 
far  back  as  known  their  names  are  as  follows:  Samuel, 
James,  Samuel,  Benoni,  Daniel,  Daniel,  the  last  named 
being  his  father.  Both  the  Samuels  referred  to  were 
deacons  in  the  Congregational  (Puritan)  Church,  and 
the  first  sometimes  a  public  speaker.  All  these  ances- 
tors were  believers  in  orthodox  Christianity,  and  all, 
or  nearly  all,  were  personally  pious. 

The  first  Samuel  came  from  England,  probably  in 
bis  thirty-fifth  year,  with  his  wife  Elizabeth  and  five 
children — ^ James  being  his  second  son — and  settled  at 
Springfield,  Mass.,  about  the  year  1639.  For  the 
next  175  years  his  ancestors  lived  in  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut  and  Vermont.  In  the  year  1816  Grand- 
father Wright,  with  his  family,  removed  to  Ohio. 

Daniel  Wright,  Sr.,  his  grandfather,  was  born  in 
Lebanon,  Conn.,  April  1,  1757.  In  the  State  of 
New  Hamsphire,  February  3,  1785,  he  married  Sally 
Freeman,  daughter  of  Edmund  Freeman,  a  prominent 
and  much  respected  citizen  of  that  country,  whose 
brother  was  a  member  of  congress.  His  wife,  the  bish- 
op's grandmother,  had  a  clear  mind  and  an  excellent 
physical  constitution.  She  was  very  humble,  quiet  and 
unassuming.  She  was  through  life  a  faithful  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  Chu]-cl).     Her  death  occurred  at 

525 


526  MILTON    WKIGHT, 

the  age  of  eighty-six  years,  and  her  piety  and  sweetness 
of  disposition  grew  to  the  last. 

The  mother's  maiden  name  was  Catharine  Keeder. 
Her  father,  whose  father  and  grandfather  were  both 
named  Joseph,  came  from  Virginia  to  Cohimbia,  now 
a  suburb  of  Cincinnati,  about  1791.  The  grandfather 
Reeder  was  a  man  of  rather  delicate  constitution,  but 
possessed  extraordinary  athletic  agility.  He  was  com- 
missioned captain  of  militia,  and  served  as  baggage  mas- 
ter to  important  trains  sent  out  from  Cincinnati.  He  was 
married,  at  Cincinnati,  June  2,  1796,  to  Margaret  Van 
Cleve,  daughter  of  John  Van  Cleve,  who  was  killed  by 
the  Indians,  in  the  outlots  of  Cincinnati,  live  years  be- 
fore. Mrs. Van  Cleve,  after  her  second  marriage  to  Sam- 
uel Thompson,  removed  to  Dayton,  Ohio,  April,  1796, 
one  of  the  first  two  families  settled  there,  and  there 
her  son,  Henry  Van  Cleve,  was  county  clerk  twenty- 
one  years. 

The  father,  Dan  Wright,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Shefford 
township,  Orange  county,  Vt.,  September  3,  1790.  He 
was  brought  up  on  a  farm,  but  obtained  a  good  educa- 
tion for  those  days,  and  taught  a  term  of  school.  He 
came  to  Montgomery  county,  Ohio,  with  his  parents, 
when  in  his  twenty-sixth  year,  where  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Catharine  Reeder,  February  12,  1818.  Three 
years  later,  with  two  small  children,  these  parents' 
removed  to  a  piece  of  government  land  of  eighty  acres, 
which  the  husband  had  entered  in  Rush  county,  Ind. 
The  young  wife,  now  twentj'-one  yeiws  of  age,  was  the 
inspiration  of  the  removal,  and  largely  of  the  success 
in  overcoming  the  difficulties  which  beset  the  pathway 
of  the  new  settlers.  It  was  on  this  farm  that  the 
bishop  was  born,  November  17, 1828,  and  here  he  spent 


TWENTY-SECO>fD  BISHOP  UNITKD  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.   527 

the  first  eleven  years  of  his  life.  In  the  year  1840,  the 
father  having  sold  out,  removed  to  another  farm  ten 
miles  distant,  in  Fayette  county,  where  he  died  in  1861, 
aged  seventy -one  years,  and  where  the  mother  died  six 
years  later,  in  the  sixty -seventh  year  of  her  age. 

In  intellect  the  father  wa-s  strong  and  manly.  He 
had  keen  perceptive  and-  strong  reflective  faculties. 
His  mtuitions  seemed  remarkable.  He  was  a  man 
of  strong  convictions,  but  very  tolerant  of  the  opinions 
of  others,  and  very  ready  to  recognize  all  that  was 
good  in  any  person,  religious  denomination  or  polit- 
ical party.  He  was  in  advance  of  his  neighborhood 
and  age,  in  every  controverted  educational,  social, 
moral  or  political  reform,  and  he  lived  to  see  several 
of  these  victorious.  No  feature  of  his  intellect  and 
character  was  more  marked  than  the  strength  and 
impartiality  of  his  judgment. 

About  the  year  1832,  he  banished  ardent  spirits  from 
his  house  forever,  henceforth  tasting  not,  touching  not, 
nor  having  a  grain  of  corn  for  the  distilleries  at  any  price. 
He  was  an  intense  anti-slavery  man  and  an  out-and-out 
anti-slaver}^  voter,  voting  for  Birney  in  the  year  1844. 
He  was  an  anti-Mason  from  the  son's  earliest  recollec- 
tion. He  was  converted  at  forty  years  of  age,  but  not  a 
member  of  church,  because  those  he  otherwise  har- 
monized with  indorsed  human  bondage.  He  died  in 
hope  of  immortality,  in  1861. 

The  mother  had  a  ready,  clear  mind,  of  ordinary 
strength.  Her  feelings  were  very  fine,  and  her  coun- 
tenance was  very  expressive  of  them.  She  w^as  a 
woman  of  strong  sympathies.  Her  conversational 
powers  were  quite  good,  and  her  social  qualities  inter- 
esting and  winning.     She  was  converted  before  the 


528  MILTON    WRIGHT, 

bishop  was  horn,  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  though 
really  a  Presbyterian  in  church  preference. 

Her  last  days  were  full  of  patience,  heroism,  and 
longing  for  immortality.  She  died  in  1866.  Affection- 
ate, self-sacrificing,  thoughtful,  pious,  she  could  not  fail 
to  have  a  w^arm  place  in  the  hearts  of  her  children. 

The  children  of  this  family  owed  most,  religiously,  to 
the  mother.  Her  extraordinary  power  over  their  hearts, 
her  systematic  talk  right  into  their  hearts,  her  deep 
concern  for  their  spiritual  interests  and  never  failing 
prayer  for  them,  had  an  influence  seldom  equaled.  To 
her  more  than  to  all  other  human  instrumentalities  the 
bishop  owes  his  religious  impressions.  In  speech  the 
father  was  remarkably  pure,  free  from  anything  that 
would  offend  modesty  and  delicacy. 

The  oldest  brother,  Samuel  Smith  Wright,  was  ten 
years  the  bishop's  senior.  In  physical  and  mental 
powers  he  was  probably  endowed  beyond  any  of  the 
family.  It  was  generally  predicted  that  he  would  be 
a  minister;  but  by  a  fatal  fever  prevailing  in  the  region 
where  he  was  teaching,  he  was  cut  down  in  eight  days. 
His  death-bed  was  the  scene  of  the  grandest  Christian 
triumph. 

The  second  brother's  name  was  Harvey.  Tohis  advice 
the  bishop  probably  owes  more  than  to  any  other  per- 
son his  early  desire  and  efforts  for  careful  mental  im- 
provement. He  married  well  and  has  a  large  family.  He 
has  done  well  financially,  and  is  living  on  a  fine  farm. 
He  is  an  able  and  well  gifted  Baptist  minister  of  the 
old  school,  and  is  w^ell  known  in  his  church,  throughout 
his  State,  and  in  neighboring  States.  He  was  the  most 
gifted  of  any  of  the  family  in  speech. 


TWENTY-SECOND  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  529 

William  was  over  three  years  younger  than  the  sub- 
ject of  our  sketch.  He  was  his  playmate,  schoolmate, 
church  mate  and  conference  mate.  He  ^vas  meek,  diffi- 
dent, faithful,  affectionate,  and  from  his  childhood  un- 
commonly good,  even  for  a  good  boy.  From  his  youth 
to  maturity  his  complexion  and  features  'resembled 
those  of  a  handsome  little  girl.  In  his  manhood  he  was 
large  and  line-looking.  An  attack  of  dyspepsia  so  im- 
paired his  health  that  his  wit  in  conversation  and 
public  speech  were  never  fully  regained.  He  had  great 
amiability  of  disposition  and  meekness  of  spirit.  When 
he  died,  he  lifted  his  feeble  hand,  and,  with  his  feeble 
voice,  his  eyes  bright  with  joy,  exclaimed,  "Jesus !  Jesus ! 
home!  home! " 

His  sister  Sarah  was  four  years  his  senior.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  she  was  married  to  Charles  Harris,  and 
at  her  death,  in  1868,  she  left  ten  children,  all  still  liv- 
ing.    She  died  expressing  a  hope  in  Christ. 

On  the  24th  of  November,  1859,  the  bishop  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Susan  Catharine  Koerner,  of 
Union  county,  Ind.  Her  father  w^as  a  native  of 
Schleitz,  Saxony,  and  came  from  Hamburg  to  America 
after  he  had  reached  his  majority.  For  the  last  fifty 
years  of  Tiis  life  he  was  a  prominent  member  of  the 
United  Brethren  Church,  was  well  educated,  and  pos- 
sessed excellent  gifts  of  conversation  and  first-class 
mental  powers.     He  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-six. 

Mrs.  Wright  was  converted  at  fourteen,  and  joined 
the  church.  She  attended  college  at  Hartsville,  and 
came  within  three  months  of  graduation,  but  w^as  not  am- 
bitious for  the  degree.  For  practical  sense,  penetrating 
intellect,  honest  purpose,  good  judgment  and  unvarying- 
patience,  no  one  has  ever  stoo<l  higlier  than  she  in  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  her  husband  and  children. 


5o0  MILTON    WRIGHT, 

Of  the  children  of  Bishop  Wright  five  are  living 
and  two  are  dead.  The  dead  are  twins,  who  died  in 
early  infancy.  Of  the  living,  the  oldest,  Keachlin,  is 
married  to  Miss  Lulu  Billieimer,  and  lives  in  Dayton. 
He  is  publisher  of  the  Conservator.  He  stood  high  in 
his  college  grades,  and  has  had  high  praise  as  a  writer. 

Lorin,  nearly  two  years  younger,  has  filled  the 
most  responsible  places  in  large  establishments,  as, 
bookkeeper  in  Dayton  and  Kansas  City,  and  is  now 
deputy  county  treasurer  of  Comanche  county, 
Kas. 

Wilbur,  born  in  1867,  has  not  graduated  in  high 
school  on  account  of  itinerant  changes  of  residence, 
but  has  pursued  more  than  a  full  course  in  Dayton 
high  school,  is  well  read  in  current  events  and  in  his- 
tory, and  has  excellent  gifts  as  a  writer. 

Orville,  born  in  1871,  is  in  his  second  year  in  Day- 
ton high  school,  is  a  neat  and  facile  compositor,  and 
has  with  Wilbur  a  small  job  office,  Wilbur  also  being  a 
compositor. 

Catharine,  the  only  daughter  living,  born  in  1874, 
is  in  her  seventh  year  in  school,  and  has  always  stood 
among  the  first  in  her  classes. 

All  the  children  were  converted  in  early  youth. 
All  joined  the  church,  and  so  far  as  known  still  pro- 
fess religion.  There  has  never  from  earliest  childhood 
been  a  known  stain  on  the  morality  of  any  one  of  them. 
Family  worship  w^^s  always  observed  in  this  home,  the 
husband  and  wife  leading  alternately  in  the  devotions. 

Bishop  Wright  was  born  November  17,  1828,  in 
Rush  county,  Ind.,  in  a  new  country  which  had 
been  settled  about  seven  years  before.  The  neighbor- 
hood was  largely  composed  of  Kentuckians,  kind,  moral 


TWENTY  SECOND  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  531 

people,  with  pro-slavery  prejudices,  and  caring  little 
for  education.  The  schools,  however,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions, were  fair,  and  he  enjoyed  them.  He  after- 
ward attended  the  schools  in  Fayette  count}^,  where  the 
teachers,  as  a  rule,  were  more  competent.  In  addition 
to  the  branches  studied  in  school  he  pursued  several  at 
home,  which  proved  to  be  of  great  advantage  to  him 
when  he  afterward  pursued  the  same  studies  at  Harts- 
ville  College,  which  he  attended  in  the  days  of  Presi- 
dent Shuck.  He  did  not  finish  the  course  of  study. 
The  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  was  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  Westfield  College. 

The  memory  of  those  early  school  days,  when  he 
was  but  eight  years  of  age,  often  comes  back  to  him, 
and  the  discussions  which  took  place  with  his  ignorant 
and  incredulous  schoolmates  on  the  shape  of  the  earth 
and  its  motions  —  some  of  them  so  ignorant  as  to 
think  that  the  earth  might  be  set  upon  a  great  rock. 
They  also  talked  on  slavery  ;  and  there  was  the  instinct- 
ive horror  in  their  hearts  toward  its  outrages  and 
uncertainties,  which  was  overbalanced  in  those  boys 
by  the  fear  of  saucy  free  negroes,  and  the  danger  of 
their  walking  with  and  marrying  white  girls. 

He  was  early  impressed  with  the  danger  of  aboli- 
tionism, but  had  a  profound  sympathy  for  the  bondmen, 
and  longing  for  their  liberation.  His  father  voted  for 
Birney,  and  the  bishop  in  those  youthful  days  was  a 
constant  reader  of  anti-slavery  literature.  His  first 
presidential  vote  was  cast  in  1852,  for  John  P.  Hale, 
the  Liberty  candidate.  He  took  a  lively  interest  in 
politics  from  the  year  1840  till  the  close  of  the  Rebel- 
lion. - 

When  the  war  began  in  1861,  he  was  confident  that 


532  MILTON    WRIGHT, 

it  was  providentially  intended  to  overthrow  slavery. 
Soon  after  he  preached  a  sermon  in  nis  neighborhood 
(Grant  county,  Ind.),  in  which  he  indicated  his  confi- 
dence in  the  result.  He  said  :  "  The  president  does 
not  mean  it ;  congress  does  not  mean  it ;  but  I  am  con- 
fident the  Lord  means  it,  and  will  bring  it  to  pass." 
He  preached  a  few  sermons  on  the  war,  temperate  in 
word  but  radical  in  principle.  He  never  preached  a 
military  sermon,  nor  did  he  in  his  ordinary  preaching 
mention  the  controversies  of  the  war.  This  has  been 
his  usual  course  with  regard  to  all  questions  of  contro- 
versy in  the  nation   and  in  the  church. 

When  the  war  closed  and  slavery  was  dead,  while 
he  did  not  favor  restoring  the  rebellious  States  to  their 
former  standing  in  the  Union  without  abundant  guar- 
antees, he  did  favor  the  greatest  lenienc}^  toward  those 
lately  in  Eebellion,  including  the  leaders.  He  preached 
a  sermon  on  the  subject,  commending  the  course  urged 
by  the  prophet  Elisha  (H  Kings  vi :  21,  22)  upon  the 
king  of  Israel  when  the  Syrians  were  delivered  into  his 
hands.  He  counseled  him  not  to  "smite  them,"  but  to 
feed  them,  and  thus  malvc  of  them  perpetual  friends, 
which  was  the  happy  result.  In  the  General  Confer- 
ence at  Western,  in  1865,  he  expressed  his  disapproval  of 
an  item  in  the  resolutions  on  the  state  of  the  country, 
which  said  that  "  We  insist  upon  it  that  the  penalty  of 
treason  be  visited  upon  the  leaders  of  the  Rebellion." 
The  report  as  a  whole  embracing  a  number  of  resolu- 
tions, he  voted  for  after  this  protest,  without  insisting 
on  a  division  of  the  question. 

He  preached  a  sermon  at  Dublin,  Ind.,  at  the  time 
of  the  restoring  of  the  flag  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  the 
next  day  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  was  re- 


TWENTY-SECOND  BISHOP  UNITKD  BRETHREN  IX  CHRIST.  533 

quested  t(^  preach  a  sermon  on  the  death  of  President 
Lincoln,  who  died  that  morning.  An  hour  after  the 
request  was  made  he  dehvered  the  discourse,  in  which 
he  expressed  reasons  for  high  appreciation  of  the  mar- 
tyr president,  but  some  appreliensions  concerning  his 
successor,  whicli  were  too  soon  reahzed. 

As  to  his  labors  as  a  teaclier,  we  may  say  he  began 
in  the  common  school,  a  few  days  after  he  was  of  age, 
and  continued  to  teach  a  part  of  his  time  for  ten  years, 
teaching  about  eight  school  years  in  that  time.  lie 
was  fond  of  science,  fond  of  children  and  youth.  And 
after  experience  had  taught  him  the  art  of  government 
by  mental  and  moral  forces,  he  was  an  enthusiastic 
lover  of  the  profession.  With  few  exceptions  he  had 
the  good-will  and  warm  friendship  of  both  ])upils  and 
their  parents.  He  taught  for  a  short  time  in  the  pre- 
paratory department  of  Hartsville  College,  but  talving 
sick  the  day  of  the  opening  of  the  next  j^ear,  he  gave 
up  the  school,  and  never  taught  in  that  department 
again.  In  185Y  he  was  sent  by  the  board  of  missions 
to  Oregon.  He  had  the  Panama  fever  on  the  voyage  ; 
and  the  Panama  chills  following,  it  made  him  an  invalid 
for  three  months.  His  physician  and  brethren  decided 
he  would  not  be  able  to  travel  the  mission  to  which 
the  conference  had  appointed  him,  so  he  resigned. 
Late  that  fall  (1857),  the  building  for  Sublimity  Col- 
lege being  partially  ready  for  occupancy  the  board  of 
trustees  employed  him  to  teach  its  first  term.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  he  was  employed  for  another  year, 
which  closed  only  a  few  months  before  his  return  to 
the  States.  In  this  institution  he  took  the  liveliest 
interest.  The  school  had  quite  a  good  reputation  in 
that  county,  and   throughout  the   Willamette  valley. 


534  MILTON    WRIGHT, 

His  years  here,  including  much  ministerial  labor,  were 
among  the  busiest  of  his  life,  and  very  happy  ones.  In 
the  school  and  among  its  patrons,  he  found  a  host  of 
the  best  and  truest  friends,  whom  he  has  no  desire  to 
forget. 

After  returning  to  the  States  and  spending  several 
3^ears  in  the  itinerac}^,  he  was  elected  to  teach  in  a 
theological  department  of  Hartsville.  The  election  was 
by  a  joint  session  of  White  River  and  Indiana  Confer- 
ences, he  having  been  previously  nominated  by  the  board 
of  trustees  of  the  college.  He  was  also  appointed  as 
pastor  of  the  church.  This  year  was  one  of  hard  but 
pleasant  labors,  and  with  successful  results  in  both  de- 
partments. 

Before  the  close  of  his  first  year  at  Hartsville,  he  was 
elected  editor  of  the  Religious  Telescojpe^  so  that  his  con- 
nection with  the  theological  chair  ceased  at  the  end  of 
the  first  year.  It  was  probably  the  bishop's  lot  to  be 
the  first  teacher  of  a  theological  class  authorized  in  our 
church.  This  chair  continued  several  years  after  the 
opening  of  Union  Biblical  Seminary,  and  had  one  grad- 
uate in  1880,  now  one  of  the  most  useful  ministers  of 
White  River  Conference.  Since  that  time  he  has  been 
solicited  to  take  a  place  in  the  faculty  of  several  of  our 
colleges — once  as  president — but  always  refused  to  en- 
tertain the  thought. 

In  those  early  years  Avas  an  impression,  which  was 
accepted  as  real,  that  his  labors  would  expose  him  to 
unpopularity  in  a  strong  degree,  in  opposing  prevailing- 
popular  evils.  From  the  time  of  his  conversion  he  la- 
bored to  prepare  for  this  work  by  reading  and  training 
his  mind  to  think.  He  was  passionatel}'^  fond  of  ora- 
tory, yet  had  very  imperfect  ideas  of  elocution.     He 


TWENTY-SECOND  BISHOP  UNITED  BEETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  535 

often  declaimed  in  the  fields  or  woods,  and  often  de- 
livered original  and  extemporaneous  speeches  to  im- 
aginary assemblies.  For  several  winters  he  attended  a 
debating  societ3\  From  this  small  society  went  out 
four  preachers,  four  physicians  and  one  lawyer — all  of 
these  successful  in  their  professions. 

From  his  twelfth  year  he  had  abundant  access  to 
books  from  a  public  library  and  several  private  ones. 
He  used  all  his  spare  time  in  their  perusal.  He  read 
rapidly,  but  understandingly,  and  had  a  quick  and  re- 
tentive memor3^  About  his  sixteenth  year  he  began 
to  train  his  mind  to  steady,  continued  and  systematic 
investigation  of  subjects.  In  this  he  was  a  rigid  dis- 
ciplinarian. Continuity  of  thought,  at  first  diificult,  at 
last  became  almost  involuntary,  and  sometimes  he  had 
to  rest  his  mind  by  some  expedient  to  draw  it  from  its 
labors. 

He  was  converted  in  June,  1843,  when  alone  at 
work  in  his  father's  field.  It  was  not  in  connection 
with  any  meeting  nor  in  time  of  a  revival.  A  conver- 
sation of  his  mother  with  him  when  he  was  about  eight 
years  of  age  left  an  impression  which  was  never  effaced. 
He  became  a  praying  child,  although  never  in- 
tentionally in  the  hearing  of  anyone.  In  some  sense, 
but  not  in  the  strongest  sense,  he  was  a  seeker  of  relig- 
ion. He  soon  realized  that  an  unconverted  heart  was 
depraved  and  at  enmity  with  God.  He  was  then  about 
ten  years  of  age.  His  judgment  was  strengthened, 
but  nothing  short  of  conversion  could  make  him  a  heart 
believer.  He  attended  church  and  listened  attentively 
to  every  word  of  the  preaching.  He  often  left  church 
powerfully  impressed  and  fully  resolved  to  be  convert- 
ed, but  these  impressions  wore  off  again  and  again,  for 


536  MILTON   WEIGHT, 

a  month  or  two.  In  the  year  1843  he  was  more  than 
ever  a  seeker.  One  da}',  as  he  worked  in  the  field,  the  love 
of  God  was  revealed  to  him.  He  felt  that  change  from 
death  to  life  which  made  him  no  longer  a  child  of  this 
world,  with  predominant  earthly  hopes  and  desires,  but 
a  child  of  God,  whose  desires  and  hopes  were  in  Him. 
There  was  no  sudden  revolution  from  great  anguish  to 
ecstatic  joy,  but  he  had  a  sweet  peace  and  joy  he  had 
never  known  before.  He  felt  that  he  belonged  to  the 
Lord,  soul  and  body,  and  all  that  he  was  or  ever  hoped 
to  be.  Whatever  there  may  have  been  of  shortcoming, 
this  has  been  the  ground  he  has  endeavored  to  stand 
upon,  theoretically  and  practically,  since  then.  From 
the  day  of  his  conversion  he  sought  to  abide  in  grace. 
Often  he  experienced  his  spiritual  leanness,  and  often 
again  was  filled  with  rich  supplies  of  grace.  For  the 
next  four  years  he  gained  in  strength  and  experience 
and  knowledge,  though  a  member  of  no  church  organ- 
ization. In  his  feelings  he  was  more  attached  to  the 
Methodist  people  with  whom  he  was  associated.  He 
had  a  very  favorable  opinion  of  the  Presbyterians, 
whose  ministers  visited  the  family. 

But  he  did  not  believe  in  some  very  important 
tenets  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  neither  liked 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  polity,  nor  the  fact 
that  he  found  that  church  largely  filled  by  persons,  who 
in  his  judgment,  seemed  to  be  there  from  motives  of 
popularity. 

His  attention  was  called  to  the  United  Brethren 
Clmrch,  especially  by  the  pure  character,  ability  and 
disinterested  labors  of  Pev.  John  Morgan,  of  White 
River  Conference,  whom  he  had  Icnown  from  childhood, 
and  whom  he  still  esteems  as  one  of  the  best  and  grand- 


TWENTY-SECOND  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHEEN  IN  CHRIST.  537 

est  men  he  ever  knew.  He  examined  the  usages, 
doctrine  and  government  of  the  church,  and  decided 
that  this  church,  respectable,  but  not  cursed  with 
popularity,  suited  him.  He  attended  quarterl}'  meet- 
ing at  Andersonville,  and  there  made  up  his  mind  to 
join  the  church,  which  he  did  at  the  close  of  the  Sabbath 
sermon.  He  was  baptized  by  immersion  b}'  his  pastor 
at  a  meeting  held  at  his  father's  house  two  months 
later. 

When  twenty-one  3^ears  of  age,  and  seventy-five 
miles  away,  the  quarterly  conference  sent  him  a  permit 
to  exhort,  and  six  months  later  changed  it  to  a  regular 
exhorter's  license.  After  he  had  exhorted  several 
times,  he  was  induced  by  his  pastor  to  take  a  text, 
which  he  did  the  evening  of  the  day  he  was  twenty- 
two  years  of  age.  About  fourteen  months  later  he 
Avas  licensed  by  the  quarterly  conference  to  preach, 
and  nineteen  months  later,  August,  1853,  was  admitted 
into  White  RiVer  Conference,  and  ordained  three  years 
later  by  Bishop  Edwards,  at  Arbington,  Wayne 
county,  Ind.  After  he  received  license  to  exhort,  he 
was  busy  in  public  labors,  especially  after  he  received 
license  to  preach.  Two  years  after  he  was  admitted 
into  Annual  Conference,  though  not  a  candidate  for 
work  he  was  persuaded  to  take  a  field  of  labor,  and 
was  appointed  to  Indianapolis  mission  station. 

The  next  year  he  was  appointed  in  charge  of  the 
Andersonville  circuit,  in  the  bounds  of  which  had 
been  his  home  most  of  his  life.  The  work  was  dis- 
couraging on  account  of  the  unfaithfulness  of  his 
predecessor,  who  had  joined  the  Freemasons,  denied  it 
to  the  brethren,  and,  when  he  could  conceal  it  no  longer, 
withdrew  from  the  church. 


538  MILTON   WRIGHT, 

Before  the  close  of  this  conference  year  he  was 
sent  out  by  the  board  as  a  missionary  to  Oregon. 
Kev.  Wilhani  M.  Daugherty,  wife  and  child,  and  Mr, 
Wright  started,  July  6th,  from  New  York  by  ship,  with 
Rev.  T.  J.  Connor,  who  had  returned  to  attend  the 
General  Conference  and  secure  additional  missionaries. 
They  passed  Watling  Island  and  Cuba,  took  on  coal  at 
Kingston,  Jamaica,  crossed  the  Caribbean  Sea,  spent  one 
night  at  Aspinwall,  crossed  on  the  Isthmus  railroad  to 
Panama,  and  set  sail  the  same  day  for  San  Francisco. 
He  escaped  seasickness,  which  few  did,  and  had  a  very 
pleasant  time  until  within  two  days  of  San  Francisco, 
when  he  was  attacked  by  Panama  fever.  One-half  day 
there  was  a  lonesome  and  sick  one,  almost  fainting  as 
he  walked  to  the  ship,  and  was  quite  sick  until  after 
they  reached  Portland  and  Oregon  City,  some  days 
later.  They  took  a  small  steamer,  on  the  Willamette, 
for  Butteville,  but  the  water  Avas  so  low  that  they 
grounded  on  a  rock.  After  unloading  the  boat  as  much 
as  possible  it  was  pulled  off  with  its  engine,  using  pulley 
power  to  increase  its  force.  Landing  at  Butteville,  an 
hour's  ride  took  them  to  Mother  Child ef's,  on  French 
Prairie,  where  they  found  a  good  Christian  home  and 
where  Mr.  Wright  staid  a  few  weeks,  during  which 
time  he  had  a  re-attack  of  the  fever.  After  this  he  went 
to  a  camp  meeting  on  Yam  Hill  river,  where  he  had 
another  attack  of  fever,  which  was  now"  wearing  into 
the  form  of  chills.  lie  then  went  to  another  camp 
meeting,  on  the  Willamette,  ten  miles  above  Corvallis, 
Avhere  he  had  the  erysipelas,  and  many  came  to  see  the 
new  missionary  with  his  swollen,  painted  face.  Next 
he  went  to  conference,  where  he  had  another  attack 
of  Panama  chills. 


TWENTY-SECOND  BISHOP  UXITPJD  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  539 

He  was  appointed  to  Lane  mission,  but  resigned 
with  the  advice  of  his  ]ih3^sician  and  presiding  elder  and 
others.  He  went  by  invitation  of  Kev.  Jesse  Harritt 
and  wife  to  their  home  near  Salem  to  stay  till  he  should 
regain  his  health.  It  was  a  hospitable  and  pleasant 
home  indeed.  He  can  never  forget  the  kindness  of  its 
inmates. 

In  i^ovember  following,  as  before  related,  though 
rather  feeble,  he  took  charge  of  the  first  session  of  Sub- 
limity College,  where  he  taught  six  months.  During 
that  time  his  health  so  improved  that  he  did  almost  as 
much  ministerial  work  as  a  regular  itinerant.  An  un- 
happy neighborhood  trouble  had  nearly  rent  the  church 
there,  and  he  exerted  himself  in  bringing  the  elements 
into  closer  fellowship,  and  the  diflBculty  died  away  ere 
long.  The  pastor,  Rev.  J.  B.  Lichtenthaler,  was  a 
principal  agent  in  this  reconciliation,  an  able  preacher 
and  a  prudent  counselor.  He  went  to  rest  about  one 
year  ago. 

In  the  Spring  of  1858,  Oregon  Conference  approved 
of  the  proposition  of  the  board  of  trustees  to  allow 
Mr.  Wright  to  remain  a  year  as  principal  of  Sublimity 
College,  and  gave  him  charge  of  the  Marion  circuit,  of 
which  Sublimity  was  one  of  the  chief  appointments, 
with  the  agreement  that  he  should  depend  on  the 
school  for  support,  and  should  have  an  assistant  pastor, 
who  should  be  supported  by  the  circuit.  Rev.  J. 
Kenoyer,  one  of  the  most  useful  itinerants  of  the  confer- 
ence, and  one  of  the  ablest  preachers  of  the  church, 
was  appointed  as  his  assistant.  His  superiority  over 
Mr.  Wright  in  age  and  experience  rendered  their 
official  positions  incongruous,  but  seemed  not  in  the 
least  to  disturb  either  their  personal  feelings  or  the 


540  MILTON    WRIGHT, 

good  of  the  church.  Mr.  Wright's  labors  were  mostly 
devoted  to  the  vicinity  of  the  college.  Without  him 
the  circuit  would  still  have  been  exceedingly  well 
served.  The  school  interests  and  the  church  interests 
at  Sublimity  were  at  their  best.  At  the  close  of  that 
year,  though  the  executive  committee  were  instructed 
to  employ  him  another  year,  he  declined  and  was 
appointed  to  the  California  mission,  a  work  adjoining- 
Marion  circuit.  He  traveled  this  work  about  six 
months,  and  returned  to  the  States,  as  he  had  indicated 
at  conference. 

Mr.  Wright  was  very  much  attached  to  Oregon  as 
a  country,  and  to  Oregon  Conference  and  its  people. 
Probably  he  never  loved  a  country,  a  conference  or  a 
people  so  much,  before  or  since.  He  came  back  to  the 
States  for  his  bride,  and  with  the  contract  that  she 
return  with  him  to  Oregon  ;  nor  was  it  any  fault  of 
hers  that  he  did  not  return.  He  thought  that  sea  and 
land  travel  of  over  14,000  miles,  going  and  returning, 
was  enough,  unless  he  went  to  stay  for  life.  The  isola- 
tion of  Oregon  from  the  States  east,  and  some  other 
considerations,  determined  him  to  remain  east  awhile. 
He  was  soon  so  absorbed  in  the  work  here  that  it 
seemed  difficult  for  him  to  leave.  The  cherished  hope 
of  seeing  the  land  of  his  early  success  was  never  real- 
ized until  he  returned  as  bishop  of  the  Pacific  Coast 
district  in  1885. 

After  his  return  to  the  States,  he  taught  school 
two  terms,  there  being  no  vacant  itinerant  field  near. 
At  conference,  August,  1860,  he  was  appointed  to 
Marion  circuit,  where  he  moved  on  a  farm  of  his  own. 
The  next  year  he  was  elected  presiding  elder,  and  as- 
signed  to   Marion   district.     The   next    year   he   was 


twentysf:cond  bishop  unitki)  i;rktiiren  inciikist.  541 

placed  on  Dublin  district,  to  which  he  removed,  fixing 
his  home  at  Dublin.  The  next  year  he  traveled  Indian- 
apolis district.  He  located,  August,  1864,  for  one  year, 
intending  to  return  to  Grant  county  and  take  charge 
of  an  adjoining  small  mission,  but  selling  his  property 
at  Dublin,  and  finding  arrangements  to  get  possession 
of  his  home  in  Grant  county  diiRcult,  he  bought  prop- 
erty in  Henry  county  and  remained  in  Dublin  till 
spring.  The  pastor  of  Dublin  circuit  wishing  to  resign, 
he  took  charge  of  it  three  months  after  conference,  and 
was  upon  it  the  rest  of  the  year.  He  did  not  go  to  the 
next  conference  on  account  of  a  long  and  severe  spell 
of  fever,  that  was  almost  fatal,  but  was  appointed  to 
Williamsburg  circuit,  which  he  was  unable  to  occuj)y 
for  some  months,  but  upon  which  he  afterward  be- 
stowed much  labor.  He  had  a  number  of  revivals. 
His  part  of  a  year  on  Dublin  circuit  was  without  any 
extensive  revivals,  though  a  year  of  fair  prosperity; 
but  the  beginning  of  the  year  1886,  on  Williamsburg 
circuit,  was  a  time  of  great  revival.  There  were  220 
accessions  to  the  church,  and  probably  more  than  that 
number  of  conversions.  At  one  place  he  had  over  a 
hundred  conversions  in  twelve  days,  and  sixty-seven 
accessions,  about  thirty  of  the  converts  joining  a  year 
later,  and  some  of  them  at  other  appointments.  Here 
a  new  church  was  built  a  few  years  later.  That  winter 
he  went  from  one  revival  to  another,  and  at  one  time 
had  three  revivals  in  active  operation  at  once. 

The  next  year,  1866-Y,  he  was  elected  presiding  el- 
der again,  and  assigned  to  Marion  district,  and  the  next 
year  reelected  and  put  on  Dublin  district.  The  j^ear 
following  he  was  stationed  at  Hartsville,  having  charge 
of  a  theological  class  in  the  college.    There  had  been 


542  MILTON'    AVKIGHT, 

no  considerable  revival  here  for  several  years,  and  the 
church  influence  on  the  college  students  was  too  little. 
He  labored  hard  to  overcome  these  difficulties.  He 
had  a  revival  of  some  weeks'  continuance,  with  fifty-six 
accessions,  and  probably  an  equal  number  of  conver- 
sions, a  large  portion  of  them  students  of  the  college. 
Before  the  end  of  the  year  he  w^as  transferred  to  the 
editorial  cliair  of  the  Telescojye,  and  while  at  Dayton 
preached  considerabl}'^  there  and  abroad.  He  dedi- 
cated a  large  number  of  churches  in  Ohio,  Indiana  and 
IVJichigan 

Previous  to  his  twent3^-third  year  the  bishop  had 
written  but  little,  and  what  he  did  write  was  largely 
in  verse,  composed  while  at  his  daily  work,  and  after- 
ward written  dowm.  Previous  to  his  twenty-eighth 
year  he  had  written  perhaps  a  half-dozen  articles  for 
the  Religious  Telescope.  In  1856  the  editor  compli- 
mented him  by  saying  his  copy  was  the  neatest  of  any 
other  except  one,  and  in  185Y  he  said  further  that  he 
had  purposed,  if  the  recent  General  Conference  had 
granted  him  editorial  assistance,  to  have  secured  Mr. 
Wright's  services. 

Twelve  years  later,  when  he  started  to  Leba- 
non, Pa.,  to  General  Conference,  he  did  not  know 
that  any  one  had  any  idea  of  making  him  editor, 
though  there  had  been  such  talk.  When  asked  early 
in  the  session  if  he  would  serve  if  elected,  he  declined, 
and  sought  to  lead  to  a  different  result  till  after  the 
brethren  settled  down  positively  on  his  candidacy. 
He  still  did  not  expect  to  be  elected.  The  bishop  was 
not  in  any  caucus,  and  favored  none.  When  the  time 
of  election  came  on  he  would  have  been  elected  on  first 
ballot  if  he  had  not  voted.     The  same  was  true  of  the 


TWENTY-SECOND  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  543 

second  ballot;  on  the  third  ballot,  though  he  still  voted 
against  himself,  he  was  elected  by  three  majority.  We 
have  learned  from  Bishop  Wriglit  himself,  that  never 
in  all  his  life  did  he  vote  for  himself  for  any  office. 
The  board  of  trustees  having  the  election  of  an  assist- 
ant, elected,  without  consulting  him.  Rev.  D.  Berger, 
his  predecessor;  yet  he  had  indicated  to  his  friends, 
and  possibly  to  Brother  Berger,  his  wish  that  he  should 
fill  the  place.  In  the  main  their  relations  were  very 
pleasant,  A  month  was  given  him  by  his  enemies  to 
leave  the  office,  but  he  stayed  eight  3'ears.  He  gave 
attention  to  his  own  business,  and  allowed  others  to  do 
the  same.  He  always  aimed  to  give  to  those  of  differ- 
ent opinions  from  his  own  their  full  share  of  space  pro- 
portionate to  the  numbers  they  represented,  and  more 
than  their  share  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  com- 
munications sent  in  on  this  question.  He  saj^s:  "  I 
aimed  to  make  such  a  paper  as  would  promote  the 
most  piety,  intelligence  and  efficiency  in  church  work. 
My  ideal  of  a  church  paper  is  not  one  that  panders  to 
false  tastes,  sinful  weaknesses,  and  by  simulating  good 
fellowship  with  all  things,  rises  into  a  popularity  not 
unlike  that  of  many  secular  j)apers.  Jesus  did  not 
thus  pander ;  the  Bible  does  not ;  but  the  unscrupulous 
politician  or  editor  does." 

After  his  reelection  in  1873,  he  had  the  assistance 
oF  Prof.  W.  O.  Tobey,  and  after  they  learned  to  know 
each  other,  they  got  along  in  the  difficult  relation  of 
co-editors  very  pleasantly.  Bishop  Wright's  own  esti- 
mate of  him  was  that  he  was  a  learned,  able  and  good 
man.  who  needed  an  associate  who  could  have  influ- 
ence enough  with  him  to  check  him  when  he  needed  it, 
and  spur  him  at  other  times;  that   he   had   the   finest 


544  MILTON    WRIGHT, 

knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  every  word  of  the  lan- 
sriiao'e  of  any  writer  he  had  ever  known  in  the  churcli ; 
that  he  was  ill  adapted  to  stormy  seas,  yet  was  a  noble 
man. 

While  in  the  office,  it  always  fell  to  the  bishop's  lot 
to  do  too  much  drudgery,  sometimes  as  much  as  an^^ 
man  ought  to  do  if  confined  to  that  alone.  This  often 
gave  him  too  little  time  to  think,  and  brought  him  to 
his  leading  editorials  worn  and  wearied;  something 
that  ought  not  to  be.  He  felt  at  the  end  of  eight  j^ears 
that  he  not  only  needed  a  vacation  from  editorial  la- 
bor, but  that  the  feelings  which  were  crossed  by  his 
election  and  reelection,  and  eight  years'  administra- 
tion, would  make  it  wise  to  have  a  new  man  unembar- 
rassed with  these  drawbacks. 

During  his  editorship  the  circulation  was  often  rep- 
resented as  less  than  it  reall}'  was.  It  advanced  above 
that  of  previous  years  from  the  start,  and  we  believe 
continued  to  advance.  In  this  we  think  he  did  wrong 
by  not  resenting  the  misrepresentations  made.  He 
never  sought  discussion  in  the  columns  of  tlie  paper 
with  our  own  leading  men,  but  rather  to  avoid  them. 
When  forced  upon  him  he  did  not  dread  them,  but 
sought  to  abridge  them,  and  do  his  part  to  limit  their 
asperity.  But  in  this  department  of  controversy  he  got 
testimonials  of  appreciation  from  many  leading  and 
strong  men  in  the  church,  and  these  testimonials,  still 
preserved,  are,  in  his  judgment,  the  highest  praise  he 
ever  received  from  his  brethren. 

In  1882  he  started  the  Richmond  Star,  a  monthly 
folio,  published  at  Eichmond,  Ind.,  during  three 
years.  In  taste  and  neatness  of  dress,  its  friends  thought 
it  was  among  the   best,  either  of  official  or  unofficial 


TWENTY  SECOND  BISHOr  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  545 

publications,    except   our   Sunday-school  publications, 
ever  printed  in  the  church. 

The  special  object  of  the  Star  was  not  to  compete 
with  or  oppose  the  Telesoojje,  but  to  give  informa- 
tion and  argument  against  the  wiles  of  secretism,  much 
of  which  an  official  oi'gan  of  the  church  could  not 
properly  do.  The  Star  had  a  good  circulation, 
though  every  effort  was  made  by  some  officials  to  re- 
press it.  Some  donations  were  furnished  voluntarily 
the  first  year,  but  after  that  the  paper  was  self-sup- 
porting. He  lost  nothing,  and  made  nothing.  But  for 
his  previous  acquaintance  with  publishing  matters,  he 
should  have  lost,  undoubtedly.  At  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1885  he  surrendered  his  enterprise  to  the  anti- 
secrecy  brethren. 

He  is  fond  of  Avriting  under  favorable  circumstances, 
and  likes  editorial  work.  A  large  part  of  his  editorials 
were  never  rewritten .  He  would  prefer  in  a  leading  edi- 
torial to  first  take  brief  notes,  then  write  rapidly,  next 
condense  and  correct.  He  has  a  variety  of  methods, 
according  to  his  frame  of  mind  and  topic. 

According  to  his  ideal  of  editorial  work,  it  is  the 
duty  of  an  editor  to  uphold  the  right,  oppose  the 
wrong,  inform  his  readers  on  necessary  facts  and 
questions  of  the  day,  to  seek  the  largest  help  from  able 
writers  in  the  church,  allowing  them  their  own  style 
and  language,  and  to  do  his  best  to  give  respectability 
to  the  productions  of  illiterate  writers.  He  must  put 
some  unity  and  conservatism  into  the  paper  as  a  whole. 
His  paper  should  foster  every  good  institution,  espe- 
cially in  the  church. 

Of  his  public  addresses,  outside  of  his  usual  duties, 
two  baccalaureate  sermons  (at  Westfield  and  Western) 


646  MILTON    WRIGHT, 

and  several  college  addresses  form  one  part.  He  also 
delivered  an  extempore  address  before  the  National 
Anti-Secret  Association  at  Cincinnati,  in  18Y2,  and  one 
before  the  same  society  at  Pittsburgh  in  1875,  published 
in  full  in  a  leading  Pittsburgh  daily,  and  in  the  Christian 
Cynosure  ;  also  one  before  the  State  Anti-Secrecy  As- 
sociation, at  "Wheaton,  111.,  in  1878,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Telescope  and  the  Cynosure.  He  also 
delivered  an  address  before  the  Congress  of  the  Church- 
es and  Christians  in  Chicago,  in  1887,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Cynosure,  and  which  he  regards  as  the 
most  thorough  and  able  effort  of  his  life.  He  delivered 
an  address  before  the  theological  class  of  1869,  which 
was  published.  Besides  these  he  delivered  addresses 
before  other  conventions  and  public  assemblies,  which 
w^ere  never  reduced  to  writing.  He  attended  the  first 
national  Christian  association  opposed  to  secret  socie- 
ties, at  Pittsburgh,  in  1868,  and  the  JSTational  Temper- 
ance Convention  in  1868-69,  and  the  "Christian 
Amendment"  convention  in  Cincinnati,  and  several 
other  national  and  State  meetings  for  various  objects. 

After  eight  years  as  editor,  he  was  elected  bishop 
and  placed  on  West  Mississippi  district,  holding  in  the 
succeeding  four  years  about  fifty-seven  sessions  of 
Annual  Conference  and  traveling  annually  from  six  to 
eight  thousand  miles.  He  also  attended  protracted 
meetings  (usually  attended  with  revivals),  besides  ad- 
dresses, sermons  on  Sabbath,  etc.  A  local  object  was 
the  building  up  of  the  society  at  Cedar  Kapids,  Iowa, 
which  he  had  chosen  for  his  residence  in  the  district, 
and  the  securing  of  good  property  there,  m  which  h.e 
has  been  credited  with  a  good  share  of  the  success. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1881,  he  was  not  re- 


TWENTY-SECOND  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  547 

elected  to  the  bishop's  oflBce.  There  were  probably 
some  good  reasons  for  this  result,  and  others  less  com- 
mendable. The  good  reasons  his  friends  and  those 
less  friendly  could  easily  tell.  Of  the  others  we  may 
mention  three  which  have  been  suggested.  1.  He  was 
opposed  by  the  liberals  as  the  representative  of  unflinch- 
ing anti-secrecy  principles,  though  none  of  them,  so  far 
as  known,  accused  him  of  partiality  in  his  administra- 
tion. 2.  In  a  conscientious  administration  he  was 
liable  to  personally  offend  a  few  who  became  delegates, 
and  only  a  few.  3.  In  one  conference  an  evil  man 
had  the  ascendency  and  used  all  his  arts,  not  only  to 
hold  his  friends,  but  to  injure  the  bishop's  influence, 
when  he  found  it  could  not  be  made  to  implicitly 
serve  his  purposes. 

He  put  forth  no  claim  to  a  reelection,  and  held  that 
he  had  no  right  to  assume  any  claim  on  the  office.  He 
returned  to  his  conference  and  traveled  as  presiding 
elder  each  year  till  he  was  taken  away  by  a  reelection 
to  the  bishop's  office  in  1885.  These  four  years  were 
successful  3^ears.  One  of  his  aims  was  to  raise  the 
standard  of  ministerial  salary,  which  he  did  advance 
every  year  except  the  last. 

His  first  bishop's  district  embraced  the  whole  country 
occupied  by  the  church,  between  the  Mississippi  river 
and  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  Wisconsin  and  Rock 
River  conference  of  Illinois.  The  conferences  were  Mis- 
souri, Osage,  Kansas,  "West  Kansas,  Colorado,  West  Des 
Moines,East  Des  Moines, West  ]Srebraska,East]Srebraska, 
Iowa,  Rock  River,  Wisconsin,  Fox  River,  Minnesota  and 
Dakota.  West  Kansas  and  West  ISTebraska  were  or- 
ganized during  his  administration.  His  present  district 
embraces   all  west  of  the  Rockv  Mountains.      Walla 


548  MILTON    WRIGHT, 

Walla  Conference  lies  between  the  Rocky  and  Cascade 
ranges,  both  in  Oregon  and  Washington.  Oregon  Con- 
ference, all  west  of  Walla  Walla  Conference  in  both. 
California  Conference  embraces  all  of  California  State 
occupied  by  us. 

He  was  first  elected  bishop  at  Westfield,  111.,  in 
1877.  His  last  election  was  as  unexpected  as  it  was  un- 
desired.  He  could  not  see  how  he  could  attempt  to  fill 
it.  A  large  number  of  delegates,  several  liberals  among 
them,  said  it  was  providential  and  urged  that  he  hold 
to  it.  With  misgivings  he  did,  but  he  left  conference 
wishing  he  had  promptly  resigned.  He  filled  out  the 
year  in  his  conference  and  went  to  the  coast,  seeking  a 
place  for  his  family,  but  concluded  it  was  best  to  leave 
them  in  Dayton.  He  spent  six  months  of  each  year  in 
incessant  itinerant  work  on  the  coast.  Providentially 
he  has  in  the  last  twenty-eight  years  never  been  hin- 
dered from  more  than  one  or  two  appointments  on  ac- 
count of  his  family. 

In  his  judgment,  a  bishop  in  our  church  econom}'' 
should  be  more  than  a  presiding  officer.  He  is  a  gen- 
eral superintendent,  and  it  is  his  duty  to  see  that  the 
laws  are  executed.  He  should  promote  the  general 
work  and  aid  all  our  institutions.  He  should  conserve 
the  constitution,  laws  and  principles  of  the  church  or 
resifi-n.  The  office  is  necessarilv  a  conservative  one, 
as  all  presidencies  must  be  ;  but  it  must  also  be  aggress- 
ive. He  should  exercise  his  influence  and  skill  to 
overcome  local  and  incidental  freaks  of  conferences, 
and  should  shield  the  weak  from  the  injustice  or  ca- 
price of  those  in  power.  He  should  inspire  the  itiner- 
ants with  spiritual  energ}^  and  enthusiasm.  His  work 
largely   consists  in  planning  and  vreighing  the  plans  of 


TWEN'l'Y-SECOND  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.  549 

others,  and  not  so  much  in  pulpit  and  evangelistic 
work.  Piety,  wisdom,  magnanimit}'^,  impartiality,  and 
freedom  from  pretenses  and  demagogism  should  be 
prominent  in  his  character. 

Of  his  three  past  years  on  the  coast  he  has  labored 
hard,  and  did  much  evangelical  work  during  the  half 
of  each  year.  The  held  has  difficulties  that  persons 
not  on  the  coast  fail  to  see,  and  hence  indulge  in  much 
unwise  criticism  of  the  work  there.  On  account  of  his 
wife's  feeble  health  he  did  not  remove  his  family,  and 
hence  after  seven  or  eight  thousand  miles'  travel,  and  six 
months'  absence,  returned  home  each  year.  The  nature 
of  the  field  requires  only  a  little  less  travel  if  the  bishop 
lives  on  the  coast.  At  home  he  spent  not  a  little  of  his 
time  in  correspondence  with  the  district,  still  having, 
when  away,  a  careful  oversight  of  affairs  and  counseling 
those  who  are  in  the  field. 

While  the  bishop  is  conservative,  he  is  independent 
in  his  judgment,  and  aggressive  for  that  which  he  be- 
lieves to  be  the  truth.  In  an  editorial,  January,  1870, 
on  "  Women  as  Physicians,"  he  says  :  "  That  women 
have  the  capacity  to  become  successful  physicians,  no 
one  can  have  any  doubt;  and  that  virtue  and  decency 
would  place  in  their  care  the  treatment  of  their  own 
sex  in  such  cases  as  involve  delicacy,  is  too  clear  to  re- 
quire an  argument.  We  hope  the  day  is  not  far  dis- 
tant when  female  physicians  will  abound.  We  have  no 
doubt  they  will  excel  in  this  practice,  and  we  are  sure 
that  virtue  and  decency  in  both  sexes  would  be  not  a 
little  advanced  by  the  accession  of  intelligent,  noble- 
hearted  women  to  the  medical  profession.  We  do  not 
doubt  that  another  generation  will  find  woman  filling 
her  proper  place  in  this  profession,  free  from  the  prej- 


650  MILTON    WRIGHT, 

iidices  which  now  beset  her  path,  with  a  tenacity  not 
excelled  by  tlie  spirit  of  caste,  which  disputes  every  inch 
of  the  advance  of  colored  men  in  personal  and  political 
elevation.  " 

His  Hartsville  friends,  who  knew  him  best,  speak  of 
him  in  the  most  complimentary  terms.  "As  a  student 
he  was  quite  industrious  and  showed  more  than  ordi- 
nary ability.  He  then  exhibited  the  same  elements  of 
character  which  have  been  so  prominent  in  his  life  in 
later  years.  He  was  more  than  ordinarily  cautious, 
conservative  and  methodical  in  all  that  he  undertook, 
and  when  he  once  decided  his  course  he  was  hard  to 
turn  from  it.  *  *  *  His  success  as  a  preacher  is 
attributed  in  good  part  to  the  purity  of  his  life,  his  un- 
feigned piety,  his  good  social  qualities,  and  to  his  sys- 
tematic work." 

Not  very  long  since  we  visited  him  at  his  home  in 
Dayton  to  secure  some  facts  for  this  sketch.  We 
found  him  pleasantly  located,  surrounded  with  his 
books  and  caring  for  his  invalid  wife.  In  an  acquaint- 
ance with  him  extending  over  a  number  of  years,  we 
have  found  him  kind,  courteous  and  obliging.  He  is 
no  time-server,  but  is  called  to  defend  the  truth  as  he 
understands  it.  Defending  unpopular  causes  does  not 
make  friends  for  one  until  the}^  become  popular.  The 
world  must  come  to  the  church,  and  not  the  church  to 
the  world.  It  is  of  men  with  the  qualities  of  Bishop 
Wright  out  of  which  heroes  are  made.  May  his  path- 
way be  that  of  the  just  which  "•  shineth  more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day/ 


cJ:^.aJl^jr- 


REV  NICHOLAS  CflSTLE, 
TWENTV-THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


THE  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
Nathan  Castle,  was  born  A.  D.  1761,  and  died 
September  20,  A.  D.  1825,  in  his  sixtj^-fifth  year.  But 
little  more  is  known  of  the  father's  history,  as  he  died 
when  our  subject  was  a  little  child.  The  mother's 
maiden  name  was  Harriet  Van  Brunt.  She  survived 
her  husband  eleven  years.  The  father,  William  Castle, 
was  born  April  9,  1796 ;  the  mother,  January  6,  1804. 
They  were  united  in  marriage  A.  D.  1821.  They  lived 
for  a  time  at  Canandaigua,  Ontario  county,  N.  Y., 
from  whence  they  removed  to  Ohio,  settling  near  what 
is  now  known  as  Upper  Sandusky.  It  is  not  known 
exactly  how  long  they  lived  here,  but  they  removed  to 
Elkhart  county,  Ind.,  as  early  as  1835  or  1836,  where 
they  spent  the  remainder  of  the  brief  days  of  their 
earthly  pilgrimage.  The  father  died  September  25, 
A.  D.  1839,  and  the  mother  October  22,  A.  D.  1850. 
They  sleep  in  a  little  rural  cemetery  just  across  the 
line  in  the  edge  of  Michigan,  awaiting  that  time  when 
death  and  the  grave  can  no  longer  dominate  the  dust 
of  the  sleeping  millions  of  earth. 

There  were  born  to  them  seven  children,  all  sons, 
only  three  of  whom,  however,  survived  the  period  of 
infancy.  Our  subject  was  the  youngest,  hence  the 
proverbial  son  fated  to  be  either  a  doctor  or  a  preacher. 

His  mother  was  an  invalid,  having  for  many  years 
an  ulcerous  formation  that  finally  terminated  her  life. 

551 


552  NICHOLAS   CASTLE, 

She  had  a  liard  battle  with  dire  necessity.  If  the  family 
had  wheat  bread  Sabbath  morning  and  tea  or  coffee 
once  a  week  they  thought  themselves  well  off.  The 
wolves  were  thick  around,  but  there  was  one  wolf  more 
troublesome  than  all  others ;  that  menacing  wolf,  whose 
gaunt  attenuated  form  told  of  ebb-tide  in  the  line  of 
living. 

The  support  of  the  family  was  principally  made  by 
the  mother  and  the  loom,  weaving  rag  carpets,  linen 
and  linsey-woolsey.  There  rises  out  of  the  accumulated 
rubbish  of  nearly  fifty  years  ago  a  little  old-fashioned 
spinning-wheel  which  the  mother  made  dailj'  sing  its 
monotonous  and  life-Aveary  song,  while  her  deft  fingers 
drew  out  the  threads  of  gossamer.  How  wearv  the 
boy  grew  of  the  whirr  of  the  wheel,  the  rush  of  the  fly- 
ing shuttle  and  the  double  thud-like  sound  of  the  swing- 
ing lathe.  But  what  must  have  been  the  weary,  tired 
feeling  of  the  foot  and  hand  that  gave  to  all  this  ma- 
chinery its  continued  momentum? 

As  to  the  religious  character  of  these  parents,  so  far 
as  known,  neither  made  any  profession  or  had  any 
church  identity.  His  memory  of  his  mother  is  that  of  a 
very  moral  woman,  who  revered  religion  and  honored  its 
professors.  She  entertained  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
and  opened  her  door,  in  the  earl}^  day,  for  religious 
services.  It  w^as  in  this  way  that  the  boy  came  to 
carry  with  him  through  the  years  the  memory  of  cer- 
tain United  Brethren  ministers. 

He  Avas  born  October  4,  A.  D.  1837,  in  Elkhart 
county,  Ind.,  two  and  one-half  miles  from  Bristol,  a 
beautiful  little  hamlet  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  St. 
Joseph  river,  not  far  from  this  beautiful  Kiver  of  Lake 
Michigan,  which  was  first  called  "  the  River  Micamis  " 


TWENTY -THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    553 

in  1679.  This  is  liistoric  ground.  In  the  3^ear  1711 
there  was  a  missionary  station  located  about  sixty  miles 
above  the  mouth  of  this  river  by  a  missionary  named 
Chordon,  and  in  1721  was  visited  by  a  distinguished 
French  missionary  named  Charlevoix.  Here  were  two 
Indian  villages,  one  of  the  Miamis,  and  the  other  of  the 
Pottawatomies,  both  of  them  mostly  Christians. 

Only  those  who  have  lived  in  the  earlier  days  of 
Indiana's  history  can  tell  how  rustic  the  people  were  in 
their  manner  of  living.  The  old  log  cabin  rises  dis- 
tinctly into  view  on  tlie  field  of  vision.  "  How  dear 
and  cherished  the  memory  of  that  old  log  structure 
where  mother  lived!  She  was  the  queen  in  that  rude 
doorway.  Poverty  reigned  all  around,  but  mother 
lived  within,  and  this  made  it  a  palace."  In  memory 
he  can  still  see  the  smoke  curling  above  that  column  of 
sticks  and  mud,  the  old-fashioned  fireplace,  with  its 
back-log,  the  mantel,  the  crane  on  which  the  pots  were 
hung  for  cooking,  the  old-fashioned  tin  oven  for  baking- 
bread,  the  heavy  table,  the  rude  cupboard  with  some 
blue-edged  plates  standing  in  a  row  on  their  edges 
against  the  wall,  while  around  the  room  were  scattered 
a  few  splint-bottomed  chairs.  There  is  the  home  made, 
old-fashioned  door,  hung  on  wooden  hinges  and  fastened 
by  a  wooden  latch  which  was  raised  by  one  on  the  out- 
side b}^  pulling  a  leather  string.  For  safety  at  night 
this  latch-string  was  pulled  in ;  but  for  friends  and 
neighbors,  and  even  strangers,  the  "latch -string  was 
usually  hanging  out." 

Only  three  of  seven  children  survived  the  period  of 
infancy.  The  oldest  brother,  William  H.,  named  after 
the  father,  was  a  slender,  frail  man,  seldom  having  a 
day  of  conscious  freedom  from  disability.     He  died  A. 


554  NICHOLAS  CA.STLE, 

D.  1851,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-seven  years.  He 
was  most  remarkable  for  his  patient  endurance  Avhen 
nnder  trial  and  provocation.  He  held  the  office  of 
class  leader  in  the  United  Brethren  Church  and  was  a 
reader  of  the  Telescope  when  published  in  Circleville, 
Ohio.  He  died  of  throat  trouble  after  a  very  brief  ill- 
ness, and  sleeps  with  kindred  gone. 

The  next  older  brother,  Franklin,  survived  the  death 
of  Henry  only  a  little  over  one  year.  In  the  spring  of 
1852  he  started  for  California,  engaged  to  drive  cattle 
through;  but  he  never  reached  his  destination.  He 
was  overtaken  by  the  cholera  and  died  June  9, 1852,  at 
the  early  age  of  twenty- one  years. 

Plis  boyhood  and  youthful  days,  up  to  the  fourteenth 
year,  were  spent  on  the  old  home  place.  His  older 
brothers  were  compelled  to  work  out,  as  soon  as  old 
enough,  to  aid  in  making  a  living.  This  left  him  alone 
with  his  mother.  She  being  lame,  and  much  of  the 
time  unable  to  go  about  the  house,  except  as  she  moved 
a  chair  with  her  on  which  to  place  her  knee  as  she 
walked,  he  was  tenderly  pressed  into  such  service  in 
the  house  as  he  could  perform,  such  as  washing  dishes, 
carrying  water,  sweeping,  scrubbing  and  the  like. 

He  was  also  early  pressed  into  farm  labor,  being 
able  to  plow  before  he  was  ten  years  old.  The  onl}' 
team  he  had  was  a  yoke  of  oxen,  and  with  this  all  the 
farming,  milling  and  going  to  town  were  done.  How 
long,  and  monotonous  seemed  an  all-day  trip  to  town 
or  to  mill  behind  that  creeping,  lolling  ox  team.  Some- 
times they  would  run  away  with  the  plow,  or  with  the 
wagon,  much  to  the  disgust  and  exasperation  of  his 
youthful  feelings,  but  there  was  nothing  else  to  do  but 
to  readjust  things,  wheel  them  into  line  again,  and  go 


'nVENTY-TIIIKD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST,    000 

on.  To  this  day  he  has  an  utter  disgust  for  an  ox 
team. 

The  worst  vice,  and  one  that  prevailed  to  quite  an 
extent  throughout  the  communit}',  was  the  habit  of 
whisky  drinking.  With  a  still-house  less  than  half  a 
mile  from  his  home,  it  was  one  of  the  most  common 
■  things  to  see  old  and  young  go  to  the  vat,  dip  up  a  tin 
cup  partly  full,  and  drink  to  his  satisfaction.  In  the 
harvest  field,  where  he  worked  from  the  time  he  was 
large  enough  to  carry  a  bundle  of  wheat  or  handle  a 
rake,  its  use  was  as  common  as  water ;  and  yet,  com- 
mon as  it  was,  seldom  would  you  see  anyone  beyond 
self-possession  or  self-control.  Why  he  never  formed 
the  habit,  raised  as  he  was  so  near  the  still-house,  and 
his  most  intimate  associate  the  oldest  son  of  the  owner, 
just  his  age,  remains  to  be  answered.  There  was 
scarcely  a  Sabbath  in  a  yesiv  that  the  two  boys  were 
not  together.  He  had  free  access  to  the  whisky  for 
himself  and  others  which  his  father  always  kept  by 
the  barrel  in  the  cellar^  This  associate  of  his  childhood, 
though  possessed  of  a  far  better  constitution  than  our 
subject  inherited,  has  been  dead  quite  a  number  of 
years.  He  acquired  a  love  for  strong  drink  which  grew 
with  his  years,  and  finally  gained,  in  a  great  measure, 
the  mastery  of  him.  He  was  a  good-hearted  boy,  and 
young  Nicholas  loved  him  next  to  a  brother. 

His  early  educational  advantages  were  the  most 
meager  and  of  the  rudest  character.  A  very  common 
three  months'  school,  in  which  reading,  writing,  arith- 
metic and  spelling  constituted  the  curriculum,  bounded 
the  year's  opportunities.  The  schoolhouse  was  built  of 
logs,  Avith  "  puncheon "  seats,  as  they  called  them, 
ranging  from  six  inches   to  a  foot   wide,  with   holes 


556  NICHOLAS   CASTLE, 

bored  through  and  pins  put  in  for  legs.  The  writing 
desks  extended  nearly  or  quite  around  the  whole  room, 
held  up  b}^  pins  driven  into  the  logs,  to  which  they 
were  nailed  for  security. 

The  first  books  used  for  reading  were  the  New  Tes- 
tament, the  old  English  reader  and  United  States  his- 
tory. In  orthography  they  used  Cobb's  spelling  book, 
later  McGuffey's.  The  teachers  were  mostly  ladies, 
few  men  being  employed  in  those  days.  For  the  main- 
tenance of  order,  standing  on  the  floor,  sitting  with 
the  girls,  tarrying  after  school,  the  "ferrule,"  the 
"  hazel,"  the  birch  and  "  old  hickor}^  "  were  the  talis- 
manic  measures  employed.  For  some  reason  our  boy 
never  came  under  any  of  these  measures  of  discipline. 
He  was  timid  and  cautious,  so  that  he  seldom  provoked 
the  displeasure  of  his  teachers.  A  word  of  reproof  was 
more  painful  and  mortifying  to  him  than  the  ferrule  or 
the  birch  seemed  to  be  to  others.  He  usually  had  his 
lessons  quite  well,  but  not  without  reasonably  close  ap- 
plication. 

His  opportunities  for  reading  were  very  meager. 
Almost  no  books  came  into  his  hands  aside  from  his 
school  books.  The  first  and  only  book  that  he  remem- 
bers reading  at  this  period  was  Capt.  Cook's  "  Voyage 
Around  the  World."  This  greatly  interested  him,  and 
of  its  reading  he  seemed  never  to  weary.  The  'New 
Testament  had  quite  a  fascination  for  him,  so  that  he 
read  it  with  equal  interest  to  that  of  any  other  book. 
Ko  book  impressed  him  more  deeply  than  the  Bible. 
He  accepted  it  from  the  first  as  the  word  of  God. 

There  is  one  event  above  all  others  deserving  special 
mention  in  this  connection  —  the  death  of  his  mother. 
She  had  been  growing  worse  quite  rapidly  for  a  num- 
ber of  months. 


TWENTV-TIIIRI)  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IX  CHRIST.    557 

It  Avas  midway  of  the  afternoon  of  a  beautiful 
Indian  summer  day,  when  a  soft  film  of  smoke  hung 
around  the  horizon,  with  not  a  cloud  to  be  seen,  that 
the  mother  called  him  from  his  play  to  her  bedside,  and 
requested  him  to  run  over  the  way  about  one-half  mile 
to  a  neighbor  woman,  and  tell  her  to  come  over  as  soon 
as  possible ;  that  she  wanted  to  see  her.  With  a  light 
and  merry  heart  and  with  a  fleet  and  nimble  foot  he 
tripped  away,  across  the  meadow  and  through  the  wood, 
all  unconscious  of  what  was  awaiting  him.  The  woman 
came  at  once.  She  had  not  been  there  long  until  she 
told  him  the  saddest  news  that  ever  fell  upon  the  ears 
of  a  child —  that  his  mother  was  dying.  "  What !  my 
mother  dying?"  said  the  boy.  ''  Oh,  why  did  she  con- 
ceal it  ?  Did  she  not  know  it  ? "  He  was  then  ordered 
to  run  over  the  way  and  call  the  nearest  praying  man, 
a  Mr.  Moulton,  to  come  and  pray  with  his  mother. 
They  prayed  and  sang,  and  sang  and  prayed  until  she 
felt  the  assurance  of  her  acceptance  with  God,  and  said 
she  was  readv  to  go.  Just  as  the  curtains  of  nig-ht  were 
hung  about  the  rude  home,  away  off  in  the  solitary 
field,  the  mother's  spirit  took  its  flight  to  the  celestial 
city,  exchanging  the  little  old  log  cabin,  with  its  soli- 
tary room,  for  a  home  among  the  "many  mansions" 
of  our  Father,  prepared  for  her  by  our  loving  Savior. 

After  his  mother's  death  he  went  to  live  with  his  old- 
est brother,  whose  house  was  on  the  old  place,  about  forty 
rods  from  the  place  where  he  was  born.  Here  he  had  as 
good  a  home  as  a  brother  in  his  circumstances  could 
give.  He  was  poor  in  this  world's  goods,  had  poor 
health,  and  a  ver}^  irritable,  high-tempered  Avife.  She 
would  not  let  the  other  brotlier,  Franklin,  have  a  home 
with  them,  but  she  seemed  to  take  a  liking  to  Nicholas, 
and  treated  him  kindly.     Here  he  made  his  home  until 


558  NICHOLAS    CASTLE, 

his  brother's  death,  which  occurred  in  his  fourteenth 
year.  Then  he  was  without  a  home.  How  lonely  all 
the  world  seemed  to  him.  Just  after  his  brother  was 
laid  away  in  his  last  sleep,  while  threading  his  way 
through  a  lonely  woods  and  thinking  of  how  he  had 
been  bereaved,  he  impulsively  lifted  his  eyes  to  heaven 
and  cried  out,  in  a  paroxysm  of  grief,  "  Oh,  God  !  would 
that  I  were  dead  and  sleeping  by  my  mother's  side!" 
Such  was  the  craving  of  a  heart  that  gave  way  to  fits 
of  sorrow  that  as  yet  found  no  relief  in  any  well- 
defined  view  of  life's  mission.  God  ordered  it  other- 
wise. He  who  watched  over  his  frail  life  —  for  such, 
indeed,  it  was — had  a  better  end  for  him  than  so  early 
a  grave. 

After  the  death  of  his  brother  and  the  breaking  up 
of  his  home  he  drifted  about  for  a  time,  catching  such 
care  and  attention  as  charity  would  give.  No  one 
seemed  to  have  much  use  for  a  boy  of  his  age  and  deli- 
cate form.  He  was  very  slender  and  did  not  give 
promise  of  ever  attaining  to  much  physical  strength 
or  endurance.  He  was  without  a  home.  One  night 
here,  the  next  somewhere  else,  just  as  a  door  might 
open  to  him,  or  as  nightfall  overtook  him.  While  thus 
drifting  about  like  a  waif,  a  man  by  the  name  of  John 
Frizzell  learned  of  him,  and  wanted  him  to  live  Avith 
him  for  a  period  of  two  years.  This  he  agreed  to  do, 
for  which  he  was  to  receive  clothing  and  three  months' 
schooling  each  year,  and  at  the  end  of  the  time  twent}'' 
dollars  in  money.  The  man,  as  to  character  and  dispo- 
sition, at  least  in  many  respects,  was  a  nondescript. 
He  was,  prior  to  his  professing  religion,  one  of  the  most 
profane,  uncouth,  vulgar-tongued  and  passionate  men 
in  all  that  country.     This  unfortunately  placed  the  boy 


TWENTY-TIIIRI)  llISHOl'  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    559 

at  a  great  disadvantage,  even  after  the  man  professed 
conversion,  which  he  did  a  short  time  before  his  death. 
His  hfe  was  so  irregular  and  inconsistent,  that  it  became 
a  great  barrier  to  the  boy,  when  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
striving  with  him  and  he  Avas  fully  persuaded  that  he 
ouofht  to  ffive  his  heart  to  Grod. 

Instead  of  staying  two  years,  for  which  he  first 
bargained,  he  stayed  seven  years,  or  until  he  was 
twenty-one,  for  which  he  was  to  receive  in  addition  to 
his  clothing  and  three  months  of  schooling  each  year,  a 
horse,  saddle  and  bridle,  worth  in  all  one  hundred  dol- 
lars. Owing  to  the  death  of  Mr.  Frizzell,  the  fall  he 
reached  his  majority,  the  latter  was  not  fully  carried 
out.  The  horse  was  worth  about  seventy-five  dollars, 
but  the  saddle  and  bridle  he  never  got.  But  he  had  no 
complaint  to  make,  as  the  famih'-  were  left  with  quite 
a  debt  on  their  hands,  to  discharge  which  they  had  to 
part  with  a  portion  of  their  land.  This  horse  was  his 
outfit  when  he  left  home  for  his  first  circuit. 

In  his  mature  judgment  those  seven  years  of  labor  on 
the  farm,  doing  all  kinds  of  work  incident  to  farm  life, 
was  the  finest  calisthenic  exercise  for  him  that  could 
have  been  devised.  No  labor  is  more  exhausting  to  the 
physical  energy  than  that  of  the  gospel  ministry,  and 
one  of  the  things  to  be  earliest  sought,  and  all  the  way 
through  life  the  most  persistently  maintained,  is  a 
tough,  hardy,  fibrous  constitution.  It  may  be  a  ques- 
tion why  God  calls  such  men  into  the  ministry  as  have 
by  inheritance  constitutions  of  such  nature  as  to  be 
unequal  to  such  a  heroic  calling,  and  that  must  meet 
either  with  early  decline  or  great  embarrassment  in 
their  work.  But  the  fact  is  well  sustained,  doubtless 
as  an  exception  to  the  rule,  that  some  of  the  seemingly 


560  KICIIOLAS    t'ASTLE, 

frailest  instrumentalities   liave   found   access,  and  by 
divine  sanction,  to  the  Christian  ministry. 

These  seven  years  were  years  of  toil.  No  man 
could  be  lazy,  and  stay  in  the  employ  of  Mr.  Frizzell. 
No  sluggard  could  endure  the  tempest  of  his  spirit. 
Early  and  late  he  wrought  at  his  calling.  If  he  grew 
in  haste  in  any  matter  or  became  impatient,  scarcel}'^ 
any  one  could  or  would  endure  his  impetuosity.  He 
spared  neither  wife  nor  child  from  the  hand  of  violence 
when  enraged.  But  he  was,  withal,  when  in  his  sober 
feeling,  one  of  the  kindest  of  men.  But  every  one 
must  fly  when  he  was  in  haste.  In  Mrs.  Frizzell,  who 
is  still  living,  he  found  a  Christian  mother.  She  was 
just  as  kind  to  him  as  she  was  to  her  own  children  ; 
indeed,  he  fared  just  as  one  of  the  family,  in  some 
respects  better,  for  while  no  member  of  the  family 
escaped  the  hand  of  violence  in  the  moments  of  his 
passion,  it  was  never  laid  on  this  boy,  who  always  tried 
to  please  him  and  did  his  utmost  in  the  line  of  obedi- 
ence. Upon  the  whole,  it  was  a  good  home  and  many 
a  pleasant  recollection  comes  to  him  now  of  tbe  years 
spent  in  that  family.  So  far  as  known,  all  the  chil- 
dren are  living,  and  they  seem  much  to  him  like  broth- 
ers and  sisters. 

The  sickness  and  death  of  Mr.  Frizzell  left  the  work 
of  the  fall  largely  to  Nicholas,  Avhich  he  did  in  good 
time  before  he  left  for  his  first  conference.  He  came 
to  this  time  of  life  with  almost  no  educational  prepa- 
ration for  his  life  work.  He  had  never  been  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  an  education  and  only  had  the  ad- 
vantages of  three  months'  schooling  each  year  during  his 
stay  with  Mr.  Frizzell,  who  himself  Avas  unable  to  either 
read  or  write.     He  had  almost  no  knowledge  of  Eng- 


TWEISTY-THIKD  BISHOP  UNITED  BBETHKEN  IN  CHKIST.    561 

lish  grammar,  having  studied  it  only  a  part  of  a  three 
months'  term  of  school.  It  was  not  until  he  entered 
the  ministry  that  he  saw  his  deficiency,  and  the  im- 
portance of  a  better  knowledge  of  the  English  language. 
This  deficiency  was  the  source  of  great  embarrassment 
to  him.  He  saw  how  little  he  knew,  and  how  life 
must  be  a  blank  unless  he  could  by  some  method  and 
in  some  measure  get  away  from  this  enslavement  of  in- 
tellect. "  Indeed,  on  this  line,"  he  says,  "  some  of  my 
hardest  trials  and  severest  temptations  have  come.  I 
have  had  to  mingle  with  and  ofRciall}^  work  with  those 
who  have  availed  themselves  of  the  advantages  of  edu- 
cation— students  in  the  schools  of  philosophy,  of  art,of 
law,  of  medicine,  as  also  of  theolog3\  While  I  have 
been  the  gainer  by  such  associations,  I  have  most  keenly 
felt  not  only  my  inability  to  reciprocate  the  benefits  of 
such,  but  also  to  discharge  the  obligations  most  reason- 
ably expected  of  me.  I  felt  that  a  thorough  and  sys- 
tematic education  should  be  the  rule  in  ihe  Christian 
ministry,  and  not  the  exception.  The  grand  themes  of 
the  Bible,  the  sublime  truths  of  Christianity,  their  re- 
lation to  human  conduct  and  character,  to  the  eternal 
weal  or  woe  of  man  and  to  human  history  demand  a 
wide  range  of  reading,  and  a  course  of  study  as  thor- 
ough as  does  any  profession." 

During  the  second  year  of  his  stay  with  Mr.  Frizzell, 
a  man  moved  into  the  neighborhood  by  the  name  of 
John  Hummer,  a  brother-in-law  of  Mrs.  Frizzell,  bring- 
ing with  him  a  large  family  consisting  of  five  girls  and 
seven  boys.  He  chanced  to  be  on  the  ground  when 
they  arrived,  and  watched  each  one  alight,  with  that 
strange  idle  curiosit}^  that  usually  attracts  the  observer 
of  new  comers  in  a  neighborhood,  not  in  the  least 
expecting  what  was  to  come,  when  lol  there  came  into 


562  NICHOLAS    CASTLE, 

view  a  beautiful,  retiring,  womanly  girl  of  about  fifteen 
years,  of  whom  a  psychological  measurement  was  at 
once  taken,  simultaneous  with  which,  the  impression 
came  that  she  was  to  be  his  wife.  From  that  time 
on  he  found  his  heart  mysteriously  blending,  all  un- 
consciously to  her,  with  a  heart  that  he  has  reason  to 
believe  never  throbbed  with  an  untrue,  unwomanly  or 
false  impulse  during  the  years  of  their  wedded  life. 

But  this  was  in  the  period  of  youthful  diffidence  when 
the  lips  faltered  and  feared  to  tell  what  was  in  the  heart. 
A  later  period,  when  the  family  had  moved  to  the  great 
plains  of  the  West,  settling  in  Iowa,  found  a  silent  mis- 
sive disclosing  in  the  distance  what  the  lips  feared  to  tell 
in  the  near  by.  In  the  spring  of  1860  she  returned  to 
Indiana,  and  on  the  14:th  of  the  following  June,  they 
were  married.  Here  a  journey  began  that  has  ended 
in  glorious  Christian  triumph  to  the  one  that  chose  and 
endured  so  willingly  the  hardships  of  the  itinerant 
ministry.  Thus  testifies  a  loving  husband:  "Her 
heart  never  faltered  and  her  lips  never  complained.  No 
work  was  ever  too  hard  to  perform,  no  journey  ever  too 
long  to  be  undertaken  if  the  cause  of  Jesus  demanded 
it.  She  had  a  brave  spirit.  Her  courage  and  devotion, 
her  pure  and  consistent  life  were  on  the  lips  of  all  that 
knew  her. 

"  But  this  beautiful  life  was  destined  to  early  de- 
cline. Death  came  on  the  afternoon  of  the  27th  of  April, 
1879.  Long  months  of  physical  weariness  dragged 
by,  ere  the  spotless  spirit  was  released  from  its 
prison  of  clay.  But  death  came  at  last.  The  final 
chill  —  the  chill  that  froze  the  blood  in  its  channels, 
and  that  sent  a  mysterious  shudder  through  the  hearts  of 
watchers  —  crept  over  the  tired  and  exhausted  frame, 
and  put  it  into  a  peaceful  and  moanless  sleep." 


TWENTY-THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    563 

She  sleeps  on  a  beautiful  eminence  two  and  one-half 
miles  east  of  Philomath,  Ore.  Two  children  were 
born  to  them,  a  daughter  and  a  son.  The  former  is 
married  to  Prof.  Henry  Sheak,  A.  M.,  of  Philomath 
College.  The  son  also  is  married  and  settled  on  a  farm 
near  b3^ 

After  the  decease  of  his  wife,  he  made  his  home  with 
his  daughter,  and  a  tender,  kindly  home  it  was  on  the 
part  of  all — thinking  that  he  would  never  again  be  mar- 
ried. But  here  he  encountered  an  experience  that  was 
entirely  new.  He  found  how  a  man's  wife  is  a  shield 
and  strength  as  he  goes  abroad.  His  convictions  grew 
and  strengthened  as  time  went  on,  so  that  it  finally  be- 
came as  clear  that  he  ought  to  marry  again  as  that  he 
ought  to  continue  in  the  ministry.  But  here  came  one 
of  the  hardest  trials  of  his  life.  There  were  unmistak- 
able signs  of  breaking  health.  He  determined  not  to 
take  the  step  until  his  convictions  were  as  clear  as  the 
sunlight.  Such  an  assurance  was  reached,  and  on  the 
evening  of  September  19,  1881,  at  Sacramento  City, 
Cal.,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  E.  Livergood, 
of  Elkhart,  Ind.  It  lias  proved  to  be  a  most  happy 
choice;  no  act  or  word  of  impatience  or  discontent 
has  marred  these  seven  years  of  their  married  life. 

The  event  is  thus  referred  to  by  a  reporter  :  "  The 
marriage  of  which  I  am  about  to  write  was  the  most 
solemnl}^  grand  one  I  ever  witnessed.  The  mar- 
riage took  place  in  the  United  Brethren  church, 
Sacramento,  Cal.  *  ^'  *  The  chandeliers  were 
entwined  with  ivies.  The  wall  back  of  the  pulpit  was 
decorated  with  evergreens  in  Gothic  style,  with  a 
wreath  below  the  apex  and  a  cross  above  it.  In  front 
of  the  desk  was  Hymen's  floral  arch.     It  was  made  of 


564  NICHOLAS    CASTLE, 

the  richest  cedars,  and  tasteful!}'  wreathed  with  roses 
in  full  bloom.  Upon  the  signal  of  Rev,  D.  D.  Hart, 
the  officiating  clergyman,  we  took  our  places  under  the 
arch,  and  Bishop  N.  Castle,  of  Philomath,  Ore,,  and 
Miss  Ellen  Livergood  arose  and  came  within  a  few 
feet  of  where  we  were  standing,  when  the  marriage 
ceremony  was  read.  The  occasion  is  one  that  will 
often  be  spoken  of  as  one  where  '  both  Jesus  was  called 
and  his  disciples  to  the  marriage.''  " 

One  child,  Earnest  Hall,  has  been  born  to  him  at 
Philomath,  Ore, 

His  religious  impressions  date  back  to  the  very 
early  period  of  the  fifth  or  sixth  year  of  his  age.  When 
eight  years  of  age  he  made  a  timid,  uncertain  profes- 
sion of  religion.  As  he  now  recalls  the  event,  bethinks 
he  was  not  converted  or  did  not  experience  a  change  of 
heart,  althougli  he  often  spoke  in  the  experience  meet- 
ings as  the  older  Christians  did.  He  says  of  these 
experiences :  "  Deaths,  removals  and  declensions  soon  so 
reduced  the  little  society  that  there  was  not  a  sufficient 
number  remaining  to  keep  up  an  organization.  This 
left  me  to  drift  away,  and  for  the  period  of  some  ten 
years  I  increased  the  moral  distance  between  my  soul  and 
God.  They  were  years  of  great  perturbations,  which 
left  no  element  of  rest  or  security.  Often  did  I  lay 
awake  at  night  when  a  thunder  storm  was  raging,  and 
pray  for  preservation  until  morning.  AVhen  the  storm 
abated  I  felt  the  greatest  sense  of  gratitude  for  what 
seemed  deliverance  from  death.  I  was  warned  bv  a 
most  terrific  dream  which  repeated  itself  four  or  five 
times  to  my  great  alarm.  It  was  the  ending  of  the 
world  and  the  scenes  of  the  judgment  da3\  I  never 
passed  through  a  i-evival  meeting  without  being  more 


•twenty -THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    505 

or  less  striven  with  by  the  Spirit,  but  I  strove  with  ray 
Maker,  and  prolonged  the  day  of  the  gift  of  my  heart 
to  Him.  Just  before  I  yielded  I  had  a  hard  struggle 
with  my  convictions  which  rose  to  almost  an  uncon- 
querable height.  I  presume  I  would  have  yielded  at 
that  time  had  not  Mr.  Frizzell  been  against  it.  He  had 
deep  and  strong  prejudices  against  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  when  I  hinted  the  probability  of  '  coming 
out '  he  at  once  vetoed  it.  I  seized  this  at  once  as  a 
reasonable  excuse.  It  served  the  purpose  for  the  time, 
but  it  did  not  give  me  peace. 

''  Only  a  few  months  passed  when  the  United 
Brethren  minister,  Rev.  S.  W.  Chapman,  stopped  at 
Frizzell's  for  dinner.  He  stated  that  in  two  weeks  from 
that  time  he  would  begin  a  protracted  meeting  at  '*  Hard 
Scrabble  "  schoolhouse.  I  said  to  God  and  a  troubled 
conscience :  "  I'll  become  religious  at  that  meeting." 
The  time  arrived  and  the  meeting  commenced.  A  new 
trouble  arose.  Mr.  Frizzell  w^as  in  my  ^vny.  I  saw  all 
that  Avas  inconsistent  in  his  life.  I  would  not  be 
pressed,  and  yet  I  desired  nothing  so  much  as  to  go. 
But  I  would  never  gratify  the  man  against  whom  ni}^ 
feelings  arose  with  such  vehemence  by  starting  in  his 
presence.  But  just  then  Mr.  Frizzell  was  summoned  to 
appear  in  court.  I  had  no  other  plea  for  dela}'.  I 
told  a  classmate,  a  Christian  young  man,  that  if  he 
would  go  with  me  to  the  meeting  that  night  I  would 
make  a  start.  They  sang  a  closing  hymn,  tluring 
which  singing,  requests  for  prayer  might  be  made  by 
rising.  This  was  my  last  chance  for  redeeming  my 
word  ;  this  I  felt  must  be  done.  But  what  a  struggle  I  I 
waited  until  the}'  began  singing  the  last  stanza ;  the 
first  two  lines  were  sung  and  still  I  delaj^ed.     What  an 


566  NICHOLAS    CASTLE, 

awful  suspense !  I  thought  I  could  not  lift  my- 
self from  mj  seat.  It  seemed  to  me  I  had  a  ton's  weight 
on  me.  But  the  supreme  moment  came.  In  a  sort  of 
desperation  I  sprang  to  my  feet.  What  a  sound 
greeted  me  ;  it  seemed  to  me  the  singing  increased  to 
the  reverberations  of  thunder.  The  deathlike  spell 
was  broken.  I  had  committed  myself  to  a  line  of 
action  from  which  there  must  be  no  retreat.  Having 
put  my  hand  to  the  plow  there  must  be  no  looking 
back. 

"The  meeting  closed  for  the  evening,  and  we  started 
on  our  five-mile  trip  homeward.  Arriving  at  home,  a 
proposition  was  made  that  we  all  pray  at  family  prayer. 
This  seemed  a  hard  proposition  to  a  sinner,  but  I  had 
committed  myself  to  all  the  extremes  that  might  come, 
so  I  said: '  I'll  try. '  The  young  man  that  accompanied 
me  to  the  meeting  prayed  first,  then  Mrs.  Frizzell,  during 
which  time  I  was  praying  most  ardently,  but  inaudibly, 
fully  persuaded  to  be  the  next  to  lead  in  prayer.  But 
growing  unconsciously  earnest,  I  chanced  to  utter  one 
word  aloud,  when  quick  as  an  electric  shock  a  heavenly 
influence  smote  me  on  the  head  and  permeated  my  whole 
being.  I  gave  full  vent  to  my  feelings  in  such  expres- 
sions as  only  a  convert  can  use.  When  I  arose  from 
that  place  of  prayer  and  ])raise  it  was  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  When  I  arose  and  came  to  view  the  scene,  I 
found  two  prostrate  forms,  seemingly  utterly  uncon- 
scious; other  parties  were  in  various  attitudes,  some 
sitting,  some  reclining  and  some  still  kneeling.  That 
was  the  brightest,  fairest  and  sweetest  morning  that 
ever  dawned  upon  my  soul." 

Almost  simultaneous  with  his  conversion  came  his 
call  to  the   ministry,  and  these  were  not  his  tivsv  ini- 


TWENTY-THIKD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    567 

pressions  on  this  line.  He  says :  "I  can  not  remem- 
ber of  a  time  when  I  was  not  impressed  with  this 
duty.  I  seldom,  if  ever,  heard  an  evangelical  sermon 
that  did  not  move  me  to  the  conviction  that  the  min- 
istry was  to  be  my  work.  When  I  was  converted 
these  convictions  deepened  and  became  more  authori- 
tative. But,  Gideon-like,  I  determined  that  there  should 
be  no  dubiousness  about  the  divinity  of  this  call,  so  I 
made  it  a  special  subject  of  secret  prayer,  morning, 
noon  and  night.  This  I  continued  for  the  period  of 
three  months,  when  the  witness  came.  It  came  at  the 
place  where  I  was  converted — at  the  family  altar.  The 
lady  of  the  house  was  praying,  when  suddenly  there 
came  upon  me  the  most  strange  and  awful  feelings  I 
had  ever  experienced.  It  was  divinely  terrific.  I  sunk 
to  the  floor  under  its  oppressive  weight,  and  began 
groaning  as  one  in  awful  agony.  It  was  agony,  but 
it  was  tinged  with  some  kind  of  strange,  divine  tender- 
ness that  hallowed  its  dreadf id  grinding  weight.  My 
groans  soon  ended  the  lady's  prayer,  and  brought  her 
inquiringly  to  my  side.  She  asked  me  my  trouble ; 
whether  I  was  sick.  I  said, '  No,  I  am  not  sick.'  'What 
then? '  she  asked.  I  answered  straight  out,  '■God  has  a 
work  for  me  to  do.''  She  took  in  the  situation  at  once, 
and  responded,  'Yield  to  the  divine  will.'  I  said, 
'  Lord,  Thy  will  be  done.'  Here  the  question  of  ni}^ 
call  to  the  ministry  was  fully  settled.  I  have  not  had 
a  doubt  from  that  time  to  this." 

He  was  licensed  to  exhort  by  the  Elkhart  circuit 
quarterly  conference,  August  2,  1856,  and  a  few 
months  later  by  the  same  conference  was  licensed  to 
preach.  J.  B.  Sleight  was  circuit  preacher,  H.  Free- 
man, presiding  elder,  and  H.  Frick,  secretary.    The  first 


568  NICHOLAS   CASTLE, 

named  asked  him  if  he  did  not  feel  it  his  duty  to  preach. 
This  was  like  a  thunderbolt  from  a  clear  sky.  His  ex- 
perience had  not  been  made  public,  no  one  knowing  of 
it  save  the  lone  party  at  the  family  altar.  But  here 
again  he  was  confronted  with  his  duty.  "What  had 
been  the  moving  of  the  Spirit  was  now  likely  to  be  the 
voice  of  the  church. 

His  first  effort  was  made  in  w^hat  was  known  as  the 
Philson  schoolhouse,  from  Hebrews  xi :  24,  25.  He 
says  of  this  effort:  "  I  was  in  great  confusion.  I  had 
mistaken  a  certain  venerable,  clerical  type  of  a  man 
for  a  minister,  and  was  at  once  thrown  into  the  quag- 
mire ;  my  text  became  unwieldy  and  myself  unmanage- 
able. I  closed  as  well  as  I  could,  and  tried  to  get  away; 
but  no,  I  must  go  to  dinner.  A  Mr.  Hirtz  would  have 
me  go  with  him.  His  father-in-law  was  the  venerable 
man  I  had  mistaken  for  a  minister,  the  author  of  all 
my  confusion.  What  a  conflict  I  had  during  that  six 
miles'  ride !  I  would  resolve  I  would  never  try  to 
preach  again.  Then  I  would  be  seized  with  a  feeling 
of  fear,  for  I  knew  God  had  called  me  to  this  work." 

A  few  days  elapsed  when  the  minister,  J.  B.  Sleight, 
failed  to  meet  his  appointment.  All  turned  to  Mr. 
Castle.  He  refused,  but  the  people  w^ould  not  yield 
their  demand,  and  he  was  forced  to  assume  the  respon- 
sibility of  the  meeting.  "On  this  occasion,"  he  says, 
"  I  felt  the  divine  presence  aiding  me,  so  that  the 
service  was  at  least  a  blessing  to  my  own  heart."  From 
this  he  took  courage  and  ventured  out  more  and  more 
until  he  had  appointments  in  every  direction  over  the 
country.  He  worked  in  this  capacity  for  over  one 
year,  when  he  was  recommended  by  the  quarterly  con- 
ference to  St.  Jose])h  Annual  Conference,  which  con- 
vened in  Koanoke,  Ind.,  September  23,  1858. 


TWENTY  THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    569 

To  bis  astonishment  he  was  received.  It  was  to 
him  a  wonderful  event.  For  weeks  it  had  been  in  his 
thought.  He  thus  describes  his  journey  to  conference : 
"  The  train  was  boarded  at  Goshen  to  Kendallville ; 
then  on  foot  twenty-six  miles  to  Fort  Wayne,  where 
we  halted  for  the  night.  This  was  a  welcome  halt,  for 
new  shoes  had  made  such  havoc  with  the  epidermis 
of  the  feet  that  something  had  to  be  done.  A  can- 
didate for  the  Gospel  ministry,  feet-denuded,  satchel, 
shoes  and  socks  in  hand,  may  have  appeared  a  little 
romantic  to  a  looker-on,  but  there  was  no  romance  in  it 
to  the  participant.  Roanoke  was  reached  the  next 
day." 

Having  been  confined  to  the  farm,  and  never  far- 
ther from  home  than  his  native  count}^,  he  was  now  in 
a  new  world.  How  narrowl}^  and  searchingly  he 
scanned  that  class  of  men  "  whom,  though  never 
having  seen  their  wings,  he  regarded  in  the  light  of 
angels."  To  cap  the  climax,  there  was  the  "  bishop," 
(the  now  venerable  Dr.  Davis),  the  very  impersonation 
of  religious  dignity.  He  says :  "  Whether  I  was  work- 
ing out  my  salvation  or  not,  I  had  great  fear  and  trem- 
bling." 

He  had  a  frail  constitution,  and  some  thought  it 
unwise  to  receive  one  into  the  ministry  in  such  a  state 
of  health.  But  thirty  years  have  now  passed  since  he 
made  his  first  eflforts. 

At  this  conference  he  was  appointed  to  Warsaw 
circuit,  as  junior  preacher,  J.  S.  Todd  as  senior.  This 
was  a  large  circuit,  covering  portions  of  three  counties, 
and  had  twenty -four  appointments,  which  he  filled  every 
four  weeks. 

The  second  field  of  labor  was  Berrien  circuit.     He 


570  NICHOLAS    CASTLE, 

was  now  married,  and  this  was  his  first  charge  alone. 
He  felt  the  weight  of  responsibility,  and  tremblingly 
went  forth  to  his  duty.  The  salary  was  not  much,  only 
$160,  and  on  this  he  commenced  housekeeping,  as  well 
as  lived,  but  somehow  they  had  plenty.  It  seemed 
some  way,  but  not  explainable  by  himself,  that  the 
little  he  had  multiplied  on  his  hands,  so  that  he  had 
enough  and  to  spare. 

From  Berrien  he  was  sent  to  the  extreme  southern 
part  of  the  conference,  to  Frankfort  circuit.  Here  he 
was  the  successor  to  the  sainted  Joseph  Farmer,  who 
was  the  most  popular  young  man  in  the  conference  — 
a  sweet  singer,  a  fine  orator  and  a  consecrated  Christ- 
ian. On  hearing  of  his  death,  though  personally  un- 
acquainted with  him,  Mr.  Castle  was  as  much  affected 
as  if  he  had  been  a  brother  in  the  flesh.  A  great  feeling 
of  grief  and  sorrow  came  over  him,  so  that  he  walked 
the  room  and  wept.  He  could  not  at  the  time  account 
for  this  unusual  tenderness,  but  when  he  was  made  his 
successor  it  became  in  a  measure  clear  to  him. 

He  was  greatly  embarrassed  in  following  such  an 
Apollos  as  Joseph  Farmer.  A  sense  of  great  weakness 
and  unworthiness  drove  him  to  his  knees.  The  people 
were  kind  and  forbearing,  and  he  grew  in  favor  with 
them,  so  that  he  was  continued  in  this  field  for  the  pe- 
riod of  three  years.  These  were  years  of  growing  use- 
fulness :  each  year  seemed  better  than  the  preceding 
one,  so  that  the  last  year  was  by  far  the  best.  Our 
church  being  stronger  and  more  wealthy  here  than  in 
the  northern  portions  of  the  conference,  his  support  was 
better.  These  three  years  were  most  delightful  and 
profitable  to  him. 

His  ordination  occurred  the  fall  he  entered  upon  the 


TWEXTY-THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    571 

duties  of  this  charge,  at  Seven  Mile,  Cass  county,  Ind., 
October  14,  1861,  Bishop  Markwood  oflBciating,  It 
was  a  most  solemn  and  impressive  occasion.  More  than 
ever  was  he  made  to  feel  the  sacredness  of  the  minis- 
terial office.  At  the  close  of  the  third  year  on  the 
Fi'ankfort  charge  he  was  returned  to  the  Berrien'  cir- 
cuit. Here  he  had  a  growing,  prosperous  year,  but  en- 
dured a  good  deal  of  physical  suffering  on  account  of 
his  throat,  which  gave  e^ddence  of  permanent  inflamma- 
tion. At  times  it  was  ver}^  painful,  so  that  he  could 
scarcely  get  through  with  a  discourse.  He  had  serious 
fears  that  it  would  take  him  out  of  the  ministry  at  a 
very  earl}'  time.  This  so  wrought  upon  him  that  he 
was  sometimes  affected  to  tears. 

In  view  of  this  condition  of  health,  he  gives  us  the 
following  testimony  :  "  But  more  than  thirty  years  have 
now  passed  since  mv  first  efforts  as  an  exhorter  were 
made,  and  some  twenty-seven  since  I  joined  the  St.  Jo- 
seph Conference.  How  graciously  the  Lord  has  dealt 
with  me;  how  He  has  added  years  to  my  life,  so  that, 
although  the  frailest  of  my  father's  family,  I  have  now 
outlived  the  number  of  years  of  all  that  went  before 
me  up  to  m.y  grandparents.  I  have  no  doubt  that3^ears 
were  added  to  my  life  as  the  result  of  obedience  to  the 
heavenly  calling.  I  would  have  gone  the  wa}'  ni}^ 
people  have  gone  a  number  of  years  ago,  if  I  had  not 
consented  to  enter  the  Christian  ministry." 

From  Berrien  he  was  sent  to  Bourbon  circuit,  Ind., 
a  portion  of  the  territory  that  he  had  traveled 
his  first  year.  This  was  a  pleasant  and  prosperous 
year.  A  church  was  projected  and  carried  well  on  to- 
ward completion.  A  seminary  building  also  was  com- 
menced,  which  struggled  through   a  brief  period   of 


•572  NICHOLAS    CASTLE, 

years  and  finally  disappeared.  He  was  sent  out  to 
raise  $5,000  on  certain  conditions.  This  he  did,  and 
says :  "I  have  been  sorry  for  it  ever  since.  I  w'd& 
honest  and  went  out  in  good  faith,  but  the  brethren 
did  not  know  what  they  were  doing.  In  this  we  have 
not  been  alone.  Fewer  schools,  and  better  endowed 
and  sustained,  should  be  the  policy  of  the  church  from 
this  on." 

At  the  end  of  this  year  he  was  elected  one  of  the 
presiding  elders  of  the  conference,  in  which  relation  he 
was  continued  for  three  years.  Then  he  was  sent  to 
Elkhart  circuit,  his  old  home.  This  was  visibly  the 
most  prosperous  year  of  his  ministry  up  to  this  time. 
Over  100  members  were  added  to  the  church, 
$108  collected  for  missions,  salary  $550,  and  all  other 
interests  up  and  many  of  them  over.  Many  of  the 
memories  of  this  year  are  golden,  and  recalled  with 
pleasure. 

At  the  ensuing  conference  he  was  again  elected  pre- 
siding elder,  which  office  he  held  until  he  was  elected 
to  the  office  of  bishop,  at  the  General  Conference,  held 
in  Westfield,  111.,  May,  1877. 

'No  event  was  so  unexpected  and  in  a  sense  so  over- 
whelming to  him.  Such  a  thing  had  never  entered  his 
mind,  and  when  it  came  he  was  wholly  unprepared  for 
it.  It  drove  him  to  his  knees.  He  could  not  think  it 
possible  that  one  in  every  way  so  disqualified  for  the 
place  as  he  thought  himself  to  be,  should  be  the  choice 
of  the  church,  much  less  the  choice  of  Him  who  sees  as 
man  can  not  see.  He  wrote  out  liis  resignation  and 
handed  it  to  the  senior  bishop,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  to  hold 
until  Monday  morning,  when  if  he  did  not  feel  in  at 
least  a  degree  reconciled  to  the  action  of  the  conference 


TWENTY-THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  RRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    573 

he  would  have  it  read.  He  spent  much  time  on  his 
knees  during  tlie  interval,  greatly  agitated  over  the 
matter ;  but  no  relief  came  until  Sabbath  evening,  when 
suddenly  there  came  to  him  a  feeling  of  quietness  and 
assurance.  He  found  the  full  rest  of  Matthew  xi : 
28,  29.  He  then  said,  "  I'll  go,  I  do  not  know  what  it 
means ;  God  shall  be  His  own  interpreter.  I  did  not 
seek  the  place,  but  as  I  am  now  here  I  Avill  go  until  1 
find  the  wall."'  Monday  morning  came,  he  lifted  his 
resignation  and  thus  left  himself  in  the  hands  of  his 
brethren ;  when  the  committee  to  station  the  bishops 
reported,  he  was  assigned  to  the  Pacific  Coast  district. 
The  ensuing  August  he  went  to  his  field. 

The  district  was  a  rugged  one,  embracing  Califor- 
nia, Oregon,  Washington  and  Idaho  Territories.  In 
the  three  conferences  embracing  this  territory  he 
spent  his  whole  time  and  did  the  work  of  an  evan- 
gelist, being  sometimes  in  revival  meetings  for  seven 
consecutive  weeks. 

The  first  spring  he  was  on  the  coast  he  traveled 
1,500  miles  on  horseback,  visiting  our  work  in  western 
and  southern  Oregon.  No  one  knows,  without  actual 
expei'ience,  what  such  a  visitation  means. 

He  thus  describes  it :  "  Some  days  we  (Rev.  J.  G. 
Mosher  being  with  me),  traveled  all  day  in  the  rain 
and  often  through  dense  forests  of  pine,  fir  and 
myrtle,  where  the  solitude  of  hours  would  be  unbroken 
by  even  the  chirp  of  a  bird.  At  night  we  would  come 
in  wet  to  the  skin,  not  having  been  in  a  house  from 
early  morning.  Our  luncheon  and  horse  feed  were 
strapped  on  the  saddle  when  the  outfit  was  made  in 
the  morning,  which,  together  with  the  old-fashioned 
saddle  bags  that  were   well   packed,  added  no   little 


574  isricHOLAs  castli^, 

weight  to  the  burden  to  be  borne  by  the  noble  animals 
that  so  faithfully  served  us  on  this  long  and  laborious 
trip.  Occasionally  a  swollen  stream  —  no  uncommon 
thing  in  a  mountainous  country  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  —  would  intercept  our  way,  of  the  depth  of  which 
or  the  treacherousness  of  whose  bottom  we  could  have 
no  idea  in  advance  of  an  actual  test.  There  was  no 
bridge  to  be  reached,  so  the  only  thing  to  do  was  to 
prepare  for  the  worst,  and  then  plunge  in.  Had  some 
one  been  in  sight  on  a  certain  occasion,  when  we  were 
making  our  way  through  to  EUensburg  on  the  ocean, 
he  Avould  have  seen  one  United  Brethren  bishop  mount 
to  his  knees  on  the  saddle,  saddle  bags  laid  across  his 
shoulder,  and  in  this  attitude  force  his  horse  into  the 
cold,  turbid  stream,  to  find  that  his  horse  was  not  by  a 
number  of  hands  sufficiently  tall  to  keep  the  lower 
extremities  to  near  midway  of  the  body  from  being 
submerged  in  the  swollen  waters.  This  was  no  envi- 
able plight  to  be  in  on  a  cold,  drizzly  day,  with  no 
prospect  of  anything  better,  in  the  way  of  shelter,  than 
the  humid  heavens,  until  the  shadows  of  evening  forced 
us  upon  the  mercenary  hospitality  of  some  denizen  of 
the  '  wild  wood.' 

"As  to  traveling  in  these  mountain  regions,  no  one 
can  form  an  adequate  idea  of  its  ruggedness.  Some- 
times the  trails  over  which  you  go  are  so  steep  that  you 
dismount,  and  if  you  want  to  take  advantage  of  a  com- 
paratively easy  ascent,  you  seize  the  horse's  tail  and 
hold  on  while  he  climbs  the  winding  stairway  to  its 
distant  summit.  Sometimes  the  trail  extends  for  miles 
along  the  sea,  where  the  surf  is  ever  toying  with  or  near 
your  horse's  feet;  at  other  times  it  is  far  up  the  beetling 
walls  that  bar  in  the  sea,  where  you  make  your  tor- 


TWENTY-THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    575 

tuons  way  so  near  the  edge  of  the  shelving  rocks  that 
the  side  of  the  trail  next  the  sea  cleaves  from  under  the 
hoof  of  the  horse,  and  the  loosened  earth  falls  on  the 
rocks  or  into  the  sea  far  below.  Occasionally  the  whole 
side  of  the  trail  gives  way,  and  a  pack  mule  with  his 
heavy  burden  goes  into  the  sea." 

Having  served  one  terra,  and  feeling  greatly  broken 
in  nerve  force,  he  thought  surely  the  judgment  of 
the  conference  would  be  averse  to  his  reelection.  But 
such  was  not  the  case.  He  was  returned  to  the  coast 
from  the  General  Conference  that  met  in  Lisbon,  Iowa, 
in  1881.  He  resumed  work  with  the  same  consuming 
zeal  as  at  the  first,  but  soon  found  that  he  would  be 
an  utter  wreck  if  he  continued  much  longer  in  the 
way  he  was  going.  Medical  counsel  from  various 
sources  confirmed  this  judgment.  So  he  turned  aside 
for  a  few  months  to  manual  labor,  doing  at  first  lighter 
and  more  diverting  labor,  ending  with  the  purchase  of 
an  ax,  going  to  the  woods  and  chopping  cord  wood. 
He  soon  became  so  hardened  that  he  could  put  in  a 
full  day,  and  so  expert  that  he  chopped  one  and  one- 
half  cords  of  four-foot  wood  in  one-half  day.  During 
this  time  he  gave  his  brain  a  complete  rest,  after  which 
lie  entered  the  ministerial  work  again  with  better 
heart  and  courage,  and  has  continued  until  this  day. 

At  the  General  Conference  held  in  Fostoria,  Ohio, 
May,  1885,  he  was  elected  for  the  third  time  and 
assigned  to  the  district  east  of  the  Eocky  mountains. 
At  times  the  work  has  been  very  embarrassing,  owing 
to  his  feeling  of  inability  to  serve  the  conferences  in 
the  older  and  stronger  portions  of  the  church  as  they 
deserve  to  be  served.  But  for  the  wish  that  the  breth- 
ren might  have  had  a  better  servant,  he  has  enjoyed 


576  NICHOLAS   CASTLE, 

his  work  in  the  East  very  much.  It  was  a  trial  to 
accept  the  last  election,  as  at  first,  and  but  for  the 
desire  always  to  abide  by  the  Avill  of  the  church,  he 
could  not  have  accepted. 

The  church  has  always  pushed  him  forward  against 
his  own  judgment,  but  he  has  tried  to  be  obedient  to 
her  will.  His  own  impression  is  that  he  has  poorly 
requited  the  patient  endurance  and  generous  promo- 
tion which  the  church  has  seen  fit  to  bestow  upon  him. 

He  was  circuit  preacher  eight  years,  local  one  year, 
school  agent  over  one  year,  and  presiding  elder  nine 
3^ears.  As  circuit  preacher,  he  traveled  only  four  dif- 
ferent fields.  As  presiding  elder,  he  traveled  over  the 
entire  conference  district.  At  the  meeting  of  the  next 
General  Conference,  there  will  be  twelve  years  of  his 
service  in  the  office  of  bishop. 

Almost  from  the  time  of  his  conversion,  he  became 
impressed  with  an  ideal  life  that  stood  out  to  his  view 
as  he  read  the  Scriptures.  At  this  time  there  was  no 
agitation  on  the  subject  of  the  "  higher  life,"  or  sanc- 
tification  in  any  of  the  Christian  church  circles  where 
he  moved.  He  had  never  heard  any  one  talk  in  its 
favor  or  make  a  profession  of  the  grace.  It  was  years 
after  these  impressions  agitated  his  feelings  that  it 
came  to  his  notice  through  the  advocacy  of  others. 
"  During  this  period  of  longing,"  he  says,  "  I  cov- 
enanted with  God  to  seek  it.  This  I  endeavored  to  do. 
I  w^ent  into  the  field  one  evening  resolved  on  obtaining 
it  if  it  cost  me  an  all-night  struggle.  I  prayed  until 
the  evening  was  quite  far  spent,  grew  weary  in  the 
effort,  and  abandoned  it  for  that  time.  Still  my  desire 
remained  ;  I  sought  counsel  in  a  timid  way  of  older 
Christians,  especially  of  ministers.     Here,  to  my  sur- 


TWENTY-THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    577 

prise,  I  found  no  encouragement.  One  old  minister 
told  me  I  would  be  regarded  as  a  bigot.  This  made 
me  cautious.  I  then  thought  I  might  be  wrong  in  the 
method  of  obtaining  the  cherished  ideal  boon.  So  I 
turned  to  the  line  of  gradualism.  Hei*e  I  struggled 
more  or  less  ardently  for  some  eighteen  j^ears. 

"  In  this  belief  I  honestly  remained  until  a  change, 
strange  and  wholly  unsought,  came  suddenly  over  me. 
It  was  in  this  wise :  Bishop  Edwards  was  sick.  The 
Telescope  had  been  announcing  his  serious  illness  from 
time  to  time.  Finally  the  dark,  sad  headline,  with  its 
inky  border,  appeared,  'Bishop  Edwards  Dead.' 
There  suddenly  came  over  me  a  flood  tide  of  sensibility. 
Great  swelling,  bursting  grief  fairly  stifled  me.  I 
w^ould  stop  reading  for  relief,  then  resume  again,  when 
the  strange  paroxysm  would  repeat  itself.  Finall}',  as 
if  seized  by  an  irresistible  force  propelling  tlie  utter- 
ance, I  dropped  the  paper  into  my  lap  and  looking  up 
exclaimed,  '  Oh,  God,  let  his  mantle  fall  upon  me.'  I 
meant  the  mantle  of  his  life,  not  his  official  relation. 
From  that  very  moment  I  was  seized  with  an  intense 
conviction  for  this  special  state  of  grace.  No  evangel- 
ist and  no  holiness  meeting  brought  me  to  this  place. 
From  this  time  I  began  seeking  the  blessing  of  entire 
consecration.  I  did  it  at  home.  I  made  a  complete 
consecration  to  God,  and  then  held  my  offering  before 
the  Lord  for  two  weeks,  Avhen  the  w^itnessing  spirit 
came  like  a  deluge  of  fire  from  heaven.  It  came  not 
at  home,  but  on  the  road  a  few  rods  from  the  Simons' 
church,  near  Roanoke,  Ind.,  on  the  evening  of  the 
22d  of  August,  1876.  Oh,  w^hat  an  experience!  JSTo 
mortal  tongue  can  describe  its  blessedness. 

"  Under  this  new  tide  of  holy  life  I  went  forth  to 


578  NICHOLAS    CASTLE, 

my  work.  I  had  a  consuming  zeal  '  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry,'  and.  '  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints.' 
The  hardest  toil  was  now  the  greatest  rest,  the  heavi- 
est crosses  the  easiest  borne,  and  the  most  rugged 
leading  the  most  delightful  following.  My  own  soul 
got  marrow  and  fatness  out  of  the  broken  fragments 
I  gave  to  others.  I  could  now  say,  '  The  law  of  the 
Lord  is  my  delight,  and  in  it  I  meditated  night  and 
day.' " 

The  ensuing  May  a  new  bishop  was  to  be  elected, 
in  the  place  of  Bishop  Edwards.  How  strange  that  he 
should  be  that  one !  His  recent  experience  made  it  all 
the  more  strangely  interesting.  The  mantle  of  Bishop 
Edwards  had  indeed  fallen  on  him.  "  I  went  to  the 
coast,"  he  says,  "  fully  and  wholly  committed  to  all  the 
known  will  of  God.  I  was  a  bundle  of  restless,  tireless, 
aggressive  spiritual  energy.  I  travailed  in  pain  for  the 
spiritual  increase  of  the  church  of  God.  I  knew 
nothing  among  the  people  save  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified.  1  was  simple  and  artless  enough  to  think 
that  a  minister  would  never  be  more  welcome  to  the 
church  than  when  he  so  came.  In  this  I  was  mis- 
taken. Land,  stocks,  gold,  silver  and  various  kinds  of 
earthly  pleasure  were  themes  that  would  provoke  by 
far  the  readiest  conversation.  A  strange  reticence 
would  at  once  come  over  almost  all  persons  conversed 
with  when  the  subject  of  completeness  in  Jesus  was 
mentioned.  I  would  be  left  to  conduct  the  conversa- 
tion alone.  This  seemed  strange  to  me,  and  I  felt,  in 
a  human  sense,  my  solitude.  I  craved  companionship. 
No  one  that  I  had  found,  except  Aunt  Olivia  Dunning, 
sister  of  Emeline  Day,  and  ])ossibly  one  or  two  more, 
w^ere  like-minded  to  myself  in  this.     The  Saviour  said, 


TWENTY-THIRD  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    579 

'  Out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speak- 
eth.'  Then  wh}^  this  dumbness  among  God's  people'^  I 
pressed  this  matter  of  the  full  benefit  of  the  grace  of 
God,  I  Avas  full  of  the  fire  of  this  new  baf)tism.  I 
could  not  refrain. 

"  God  greatly  blessed  me  in  it,  so  that  not  only  many 
of  God's  people  took  higher  ground,  but  many  sinners 
were  converted." 

Among  the  first  to  come  into  this  blessed  experience 
was  Mrs.  Castle,  his  first  wife  ;  then  her  daughter,  Mrs. 
Prof.  H.  Sheak ;  then  one  after  another  of  the  church  to 
the  number  of  seventy -five  or  eighty  in  the  town  of  Phil- 
omath alone.  Now  hundreds  of  witnesses  can  be  found 
in  California,  Oregon  and  Washington  Territory. 

But  he  found  that  his  frail  constitution  was  unequal 
to  the  high-wrought  pressure  he  was  under  for  years, 
and  that  he  must  abate  his  zeal  as  a  necessary  means 
to  promote  his  health  and  lengthen  his  stay  on  earth. 
He  was  cautious  also  in  view  of  certain  abuses  of  the 
doctrine  and  life  of  holiness  that  have  cropped  out 
quite  numerously  here  and  there.  He  says  of  these 
abuses  and  extravagances :  "If  the  devil  can  not  stop  it 
then  he  will  counterfeit  it  or  push  it  into  the  most  con- 
summate ridicule.  Under  the  leadership  of  some  mys- 
tic, himself  filled  with  all  sorts  of  hallucinations  and 
vagaries,  capable  of  finding  sense  where  there  is  noth- 
ing but  nonsense,  roving  bands  of  young  persons,  some 
of  them  yet  in  their  teens,  have  perambulated  the 
countrj^  in  the  interest  of  the  higher  life,  professing  a 
capability  of  teaching  the  profoundest  doctrines  of  the 
Bible,  and  with  an  egotism  that,  but  for  the  delusion 
there  is  in  it,  w^ould  put  the  tinge  of  mortification  on 
the  hardened .  cheek  of  the  veriest  coxcomb  in  the 
country.     *     *    * 


580  NICHOLAS   CASTLE. 

"  But  after  all  that  can  in  justice  and  reasvin  be  said 
against  these  extravagances  and  abuses,  there  is  a 
mighty  truth  underlying  it  all,  which  no  truly  con- 
verted person  can  lightly  esteem  or  finally  ignore;  for 
the  want  of  holiness  will  be  the  loss  of  heaven. 

"  Much  of  what  is  called  fanaticism  is  Christianity 
in  earnest,  or  an  uncommon  zeal  in  the  promotion  of 
the  cause  of  God.  If  it  did  not  collide  with  a  formal 
religion,  and  rebuke  the  apathy  and  carnality  that  have 
crept  into  many  of  the  churches,  it  would  have  a 
smoother  sea.  As  it  is,  it  will  be  charged  with  being  a 
disturber  of  the  peace ;  of  putting  variances  between 
brethren;  of  producing  strife  and  alienation  in  com- 
munities ;  of  breaking  up  the  customs  of  the  fathers, 
and  doing  a  hundred  things  that  ought  never  to 
have  been  done.  'But  wisdom  is  justified  of  her 
children.' " 


c^. 


REV.  EZEKIEL  BORING  KEFHART, 
TWENTY-FOURTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


THE  father  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  Kev. 
Henry  Kephart,  Jr.,  son  of  Henry  Kephart,  Sr. 
His  great-grandfather,  Nicholas,  with  the  brothers, 
Jacob,  Daniel,  Caleb  and  John,  came  to  this  country 
from  Switzerland,  about  the  close  of  the  Kevolutionary 
"War.  IS  icholas,  the  oldest  of  these  brothers,  reared  a 
famil  >  '  children  whose  names  are  as  follows :  Daniel, 
Abraham,  Henry,  Andrew,  George,  Susan,  Catharine, 
Mary,  Christiana  and  Elizabeth.  Henry,  the  son  of 
Nicholas,  is  the  bishop's  grandfather. 

His  mother's  father,  Abraham  Goss,  was  born  in 
Germany  about  the  year  1758.  His  father,  George 
Goss,  came  to  this  country  when  Abraham  was  quite 
young,  and  settled  in  the  Mohawk  country,  known  as 
the  Wyoming  valley,  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  classi- 
cal scholar,  and  proficient  in  not  less  than  six  or  eight 
different  languages.  T  wo  or  three  of  the  grandfather's 
brothers  were  killed  in  the  Wyoming  massacre.  At  this 
time  Abraham  was  about  twelve  years  of  age,  and  he 
and  his  father  enlisted  as  volunteers  in  General  Wash- 
ington's aVmy.  The  father  was  killed  or  died  during 
the  war.  And  at  the  close  of  the  war,  Abraham  Goss, 
with  his  mother,  moved  into  Clinton  county,  Pa.,  near 
Lock  Haven,  where  he  married  a  Miss  Emenheiser;  and 
from  that  place  the3^  moved  into  Clearfield  county,Pa., 
where   he  died   at   the  advanced   age  of  eighty-eight 

581 


582  EZEKIEL  BORING  KEPHART, 

years.  He  drew  his  pension  from  the  United  States  as 
a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  until  his  death. 

Nicholas  Kephart  first  settled  in  Berks  county,  Pa., 
and  afterward  in  Centre  county.  His  son  Henry,  the 
grandfather  of  the  bishop,  married  Catharine  Smith,  a 
maiden  of  English  descent.  Abraham  Goss,  the  ma- 
ternal grandfather,  married  Elizabeth  Emenheiser, 
whose  father  was  of  Dutch  descent. 

To  these  parents  were  born,  with  other  children, 
respectively  Henry  Kephart,  Jr.,  and  Sarah  Goss,  who 
were  married  March  26, 1826.  To  these  parties  were 
born  in  all  thirteen  children — seven  sons  and  six  daugh- 
ters. Bishop  Kephart  being  the  second  son  and  fifth 
child.  He  was  born  in  Decatur  township,  Clearfield 
county.  Pa.,  about  three  miles  northwest  of  the  present 
town  of  Osceola,  ISTovember  6, 1834.  His  father  was  a 
preacher  in  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in 
Christ.  His  education  was  neglected  and  his  knowledge 
of  literature  was  limited  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  in 
which  he  was  wonderfully  proficient.  He  was  a  man 
of  wonderful  memory,  seldom  if  ever  forgetting  any- 
thing of  importance.  He  had  the  whole  Bible  at  his 
command  and  could  refer  to  any  passage,  giving  book, 
chapter  and  verse  at  any  time.  His  family  never 
needed  any  other  concordance  than  he,  when  present. 
He  was  an  able  preacher,  and  his  sermons  were  not 
without  efl'ect  on  his  own  family.  His  voice  still  rings 
in  their  ears,  and  the  most  impressive  sermons  to  which 
they  ever  listened  he  preached.  He  was  a  kind  father, 
but  quite  reserved  ;  never  became  angry,  but  had  com- 
plete control  of  himself. 

The  mother  was  a  woman  of  great  force  of  character. 
Seldom  if  ever  did  she  yield  to  circumstances,  but  made 


TWENTY-FOURTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  583 

circumstances  yield  to  her  indomitable  will.  In  all 
matters  of  business  the  father  and  husband  never  failed 
to  consult  her.  Her  judgment  was  almost  faultless  and 
her  intuitions  like  prophecy.  She  was  a  very  kind 
mother,  and  much  attached  to  her  children.  Her 
methods  of  government  in  the  family  were  mild,  yet 
firm. 

These  parents  joined  the  United  Brethren  Church 
about  the  time  they  were  married,  and  lived  devout 
Christian  lives.  They  never  failed  to  have  family  wor- 
ship morning  and  evening;  if  the  father  was  not  at  home 
the  mother  conducted  it.  Their  house  was  the  home  of 
the  United  Brethren  itinerants,  and  in  it  they  always 
preached  every  time  they  "  came  around"  until  the  boy 
was  at  least  ten  years  of  age.  Protracted  meetings 
were  held  in  their  barn  and  house,  at  which  many 
were  converted. 

At  the  time  of  the  bishop's  birth,  Clearfield  county 
was  a  vast  wilderness  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Alle- 
gheny mountains.  There,  in  the  yesir  1826,  his  parents 
erected  a  small  log  cabin;  and  with  not  a  cent  of  money, 
but  with  an  ax,  a  mattock,  a  rifie  and  the  most  simple 
and  spare  household  outfit,  but  with  brave  and  loving 
hearts,  thev  commenced  the  Herculean  task  of  clearing- 
out  and  paying  for  a  farm.  Flour,  fruit  and  all  the  luxu- 
ries of  life  were  scarce,  but  venison,  bear  meat,  berries, 
nuts  and  hard  toil  were  plenty.  The  husl)and  felled 
the  trees  and  often,  aided  by  the  wife,  rolled  the  logs 
into  heaps  and  burned  them,  to  make  way  for  a  crop 
of  Avheat,  while  the  wife  cultivated  the  garden,  sheared 
the  sheep,  scutched  the  flax  and  sj^un  both  wool  and  ' 
flax  into  yarn  and  wove  it  into  homespun,  out  of  which 
she  made  garments  for  herself,  her  children  and  her 
husband. 


584  EZEKIEL  BORING  KEPHAUT, 

Living  on  a  farm,  the  boy  would  have  the  usual 
farm  work  to  do.  During  the  summers  of  his  early 
boyhood  he  spent  the  time  in  picking  stones  and  brush, 
cutting  sprouts,  and  harrowing,  plowing,  chopping  in 
the  "  clearing,  "  making  rails  and  fence,  harvesting, 
and  doing  all  sorts  of  rough  farm  work  on  a  poor, 
stony,  stumpy  farm,  for  his  parents  lived  where  he  was 
born  until  he  attained  his  majority.  At  the  age  of 
seven  years  he  first  began  school.  At  first  he  went  a 
distance  of  two  miles,  he  and  his  brothers  and  sisters 
often  wading  snow  a  foot  deep.  There  were  many 
days  when  he  could  not  go.  At  school  he  was  noted 
for  learning  very  slowly,  being  a  little  headstrong, 
never  quarrelsome,  but  always  ready  for  a  fight  when 
imposed  upon.  Between  the  ages  of  six  and  twelve  he 
had  many  a  contest  with  boys  of  his  own  size,  and 
even  larger  ones,  who  sought  to  do  him  an  injustice. 

His  associates  were  the  uncouth,  liardy  mountaineer 
boys  and  girls  of  those  mountain  regions.  It  was  a 
regular  wilderness  of  pine,  hemlock  and  laurel  in  the 
ravines,  and  oak,  hickory  and  chestnut  on  the  hills. 
The  schoolhouse  was  an  old  log  cabin,  once  a  residence, 
filled  up  with  long  benches  made  of  slabs,  no  backs  to 
the  seats,  a  large  ten-plate  stove  in  the  center  and  rough 
boards  laid  on  pins  driven  into  the  wall  for  writing 
desks.  The  pupils  all  sat  with  their  faces  to  the  wall 
when  they  wrote.  The  books  were  "  Cobb's  Speller," 
"  Enghsh  Eeader,"  "  Pike's  Arithmetic,"  and  "  New 
Testament."  There  were  no  geographies  and  no  gram- 
mars. The  teacher  had  no  classes  in  arithmetic.  He 
kept  on  hand  a  large  hickory  rod  with  which  half  a 
dozen  would  be  whipped  at  one  time.  His  parents 
were  anxious  to  have  their  boy  avail  himself  of  all  the 


TWENTY-FOURTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  585 

opportunities  for  culture  that  he  had,  but  the  facilities 
were  so  poor,  and  the  method  of  conducting  the  schools 
so  imperfect,  that  although  young,  his  whole  nature 
rebelled  against  the  system,  and  he  refused  to  attend. 
As  he  grew  older  the  schools  became  better,  and  his 
last  teacher,  William  Hooper,  is  remembered  with 
much  pleasure. 

At  home  in  his  father's  library  and  in  the  homes 
of  his  neighbors,  he  found  such  literature  as  "  Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  Fox's  "  Book  of  Martyrs,"  Baxters'  "  Saints' 
Eest,"  Fleetwood's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  Upham's  "  Life 
of  Faith,''  Weem's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  of  "  Frank- 
lin," and  "  Eobinson  Crusoe."  By  the  aid  of  a  pine  knot 
light  in  the  old  cabin  home  he  made  himself  familiar 
with  the  contents  of  these  books. 

When  he  reached  his  sixteenth  year  he  spent  a  part 
of  the  winter  in  making  shingles,  and  in  the  sprmg 
of  the  year,  when  the  freshet  came,  he  and  his  brothers 
would  go  raftmg  on  Clearfield  creek  and  the  Susque- 
hanna river,  going  as  far  down  as  Peach  Bottom  or 
the  Maryland  line.  This  was  kept  up  until  he  attained 
his  majority,  at  which  time  he  had  become  a  pilot  on 
the  creek  and  river.  Having  purchased  the  lumber  for 
a  raft  he  and  his  next  younger  brother,  Abraham,  spent 
the  winter  of  1853-54  in  hauling  it  to  the  creek.  In  the 
spring  these  two,  with  another  brother,  ran  the  raft  to 
Lock  Haven  and  cleared  $180  on  it.  This  encouraged 
them,  and  the  next  season  they  bought  timber  for  two 
rafts,  camped  out  the  whole  winter,  chopped  and  hewed 
the  timber,  13,000  cubic  feet  in  all,  hauled  it  three 
miles  to  the  creek,  rafted  it  to  Marietta  and  sold  it,  but 
timber  being  low,  they  lacked,  after  all  their  hard 
work,  eighty  dollars  of  having  fair  wages  for  their 


586  EZEKIEL   BORING    KEPHAKT, 

work.  This  cooled  their  ardor  for  the  lumbering  busi- 
ness and  changed  the  current  of  their  after  lives. 

He  was  always"  select  in  his  associates,  when  a 
matter  of  his  choice,  always  preferring  the  pure  and 
good  rather  than  the  profane.  Pie  was  much  inclined  to 
meditation,  and  not  infrequently  did  he  retire  from  his 
associates  to  ponder  over  problems  that  were  forcing 
themselves  on  his  mind.  At  one  time  when  a  boy,  he 
went  to  New  Castle  to  attend  quarterly  meeting.  In 
order  that  he  might  think,  he  separated  himself  from 
the  company  and  his  mother  chided  him  for  his  con- 
duct, but  little  did  she  know  the  thoughts  of  his  young 
mind  and  the  questions  he  was  trying  to  answer. 

He  worked  one  winter  in  a  "  log  camp  "  with  about 
forty  men,  all  rough,  swearing,  drinking,  card-playing 
fellows,  but  in  the  evening  when  they  would  be  pla,ying 
cards  and  telling  obscene  stories,  this  boy  would  be  sitting 
in  one  corner  of  the  camp,  reading  his  Bible  by  the  light 
of  a  tallow  candle.  Years  after,  when  he  was  president  of 
Western  College,  one  of  the  men  who  was  with  him  in 
that  camp  happened  to  meet  his  brother-in-law,  Daniel 
Albert, and  inquired  about  him.  Albert  replied:  "Oh,  he 
is  out  in  Iowa,  and  is  president  of  a  college."  "  Well," 
said  the  rude  fellow,  "by  God,  that's  just  what  I  ex- 
pected, for  when  we  were  in  camp  together,  in  the 
evening  while  we  were  playing  cards  and  telling  dirty 
stories,  Zeke  (short  for  Ezekiel)  was  sitting  reading 
his  Bible.  Now  he  is  president  of  a  college  and  the 
rest  of  us  are  nothing  but  day  laborers." 

He  was  converted  in  the  fall  of  1861,  when  about 
seventeen  years  of  age.  It  was  in  the  old  Bradford 
meeting  house,  near  the  present  village  of  Woodland, 
Clearfied  county,  Pa.     He  joined  the  United  Brethren 


TWENTY-FOUKTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST,  587 

Church.  He  never  was  demonstrative  in  religious  exer- 
cises, but  always  self-possessed  and  deliberate.  From 
early  childhood,  under  the  prayers  and  teachings  of 
father  and  mother,  he  learned  somewhat  to  love  God 
and  to  fear  him.  At  this  time  he  "  learned  the  way  of 
the  Lord  more  perfectly." 

His  baptism  was  somewhat  peculiar.  Some  time 
after  his  conversion  he  and  his  father  had  been  talkine: 
one  day  at  the  sawmill,  a  mile  distant  from  home,  and 
during  the  day  they  had  talked  some  about  the  duties 
of  church  members,  and  his  father  mentioned  among 
others  the  duty  of  baptism.  On  their  way  home  in  the 
evening,  when  they  were  crossing  the  bridge  over  the 
stream  on  which  the  sawmill  was  built,  he  suddenly 
stopped  and  said :  '"Pap,  I  want  you  to  baptize  me." 
"  What  ? "  said  his  father  ;  "  not  right  now  !  "  "  Yes," 
said  the  boy,  "  here  is  the  water,  and  you  are  duly  au- 
thorized to  baptize,  so  I  see  no  reason  for  deferring  the 
matter."  "  Well,"  said  the  father,  "  if  that  is  the  way 
you  feel,  so  be  it,"  and  then  at  the  edge  of  that  mount- 
ain stream  he  kneeled  down,  and  the  father  baptized 
him,  the  two  being  all  alone,  save  the  presence  of  "  Him 
who  is  universal." 

The  children  of  the  family,  including  our  subject, 
became  accustomed  to  the  most  rigid  economv,  and 
they  did  not  know  what  it  was  to  be  idle.  AVhen  he 
was  about  ten  years  of  age  a  Sabbath-school  was  organ- 
ized in  their  little,  dingy,  old  log  schoolhouse,  to  whicli 
place  tlie  children  would  go  with  their  father  everv 
Sunday  during  the  summer  months  in  their  bare  feet, 
dressed  in  their  tow  linen  pants  and  shirts,  and  wearing 
what  were  then  termed  "  chip  hats."  The  mother  was 
a  weaver  by  trade,  and  manv  a  dav  did  he  sit  during; 


588  EZEKIEL   BORING   KEPHART, 

the  long  winters  at  the  old  "  quill  wheel,"  and  '^wind 
the  quills  "  for  the  dear  old  mother,  Avho  earned  many 
a  dollar  by  weaving  homespun  for  the  neighbors.  In 
fact,  from  the  time  the  boys  of  the  household  were  six 
years  of  age,  they  did  not  know  what  it  was  to  be  idle. 
Father  and  mother  always  found  something  useful  for 
them  to  do,  and  their  limited  income  and  large  family 
made  it  necessary  that  they  utilize  every  means  at  their 
command. 

He  early  had  intimations  that  God  would  most 
likely  call  him  into  the  ministry.  When  but  a  small 
boy  a  good  man,  a  member  of  the  Swedenborgian 
church,  Mr.  George  Schiiltz  by  name,  laid  his  hand  upon 
his  head,  and,  looking  into  his  childish  face  one  day,  said 
to  him  :  "  My  boy,  you  go  to  school.  God  has  something 
in  store  for  you  if  you  be  true."  It  was  like  bread  cast 
upon  the  waters.  It  was  an  inspiration  to  him.  These 
words  ring  in  his  memory  to-d a}',  and  under  God,  they 
probabl}^  had  much  to  do  in  determining  his  course. 
When  he  was  concluding  to  go  to  school  and  add  to 
his  scanty  stock  of  knowledge,  some  of  the  ministers  of 
the  church  who  had  not  yet  learned  to  appreciate  the 
value  of  a  thorough  training  to  the  preacher  of  the 
church,  discouraged  him,  but  others  bade  him  go  for- 
ward, in  which  last  he  desires  to  make  a  special  men- 
tion of  Cyrus  Jeffries,  R.  G.  Rankin  and  J.  B.  Resler. 

In  the  winter  of  1855  he  went  to  public  school  and 
studied  geography,  arithmetic,  reading,  writing  and 
English  grammar,  and  having  a  good  teacher  he  made 
fast  progress.  He  did  not  learn  as  readily  as  some 
others,  but  he  was  energetic  and  diligent,  and  when  he 
did  master  a  lesson  he  retained  it.  In  1856  he  entered 
Dickinson    Seminary,    located   at    Williamsport,   Pa. 


TWEN^Ti'-FOCKTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  589 

where  be  remained  as  a  student  for  some  time.  His  re- 
sources being  limited,and  being  dependent  entirely  upon 
himself,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  and  *taught  some. 
In  April,  1857,  he  entered  Mount  Pleasant  College,  in 
Westmoreland  county,  Pa.,  and  remained  there  until 
the  students  and  property  of  that  institution  were 
transferred  to  Otterbein  University  at  Westerville, 
Ohio.  Here  he  remained  until  his  money  was  spent. 
He  went  to  Missouri  and  taught,  and  somewhat  re- 
plenished his  Avasted  treasury.  He  had  been  licensed 
to  preach  by  his  quarterl}'  conference  in  1857.  After 
his  return  from  Missouri  he  >  entered  the  ministry,  re- 
maining out  of  school  five  years.  One  of  these  3''ears 
was  spent  on  Troutwell  mission,  one  year  as  pastor  on 
Johnstown  station,  two  years  in  Altoona,  and  one  on 
Mount  Pleasant  station.  While  at  Johnstown,  he  was 
appointed  a  missionary,  to  Washington  Territory. 
When  he  reached  Harrisburg,  on  his  way  to  New  York 
city,  he  found  his  paper  money  was  worth  onlv 
twenty-five  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  he  was  not  able  to 
go.  At  the  expiration  of  these  five  years  he  returned 
to  Otterbein  University,  where  he  graduated  in  the 
scientific  course  January  4,  1865.  In  1870  he  com- 
pleted the  classical  course  in  the  same  institution. 
Following  his  graduation  in  1865,  he  spent  one  year  as 
principal  of  Michigan  Collegiate  Institute  at  Leoni, 
Mich.,  two  years  as  pastor  in  Allegheny  Confer- 
ences, and  in  August,  1869,  he  was  elected  president  of 
Western  College,  located  in  Linn  county,  Iowa,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  thirteen  years. 

It  was  not  his  purpose  to  teach  but  to  preach,  if  God 
should  so  order.  After  he  had  graduated  he  received 
call  after  call  to  positions  in  and  out  of  the  church,  and 


590  EZEKIEL    BORING    KEPHART, 

after  he  had  refused  some  calls  to  good  positions  he  was 
not  sure  but  that  he  was  making  some  mistake,  and  said 
to  his  wife  that  if  any  other  such  call,  which  he  had 
not  sought  should  come  to  him  he  thought  he  ought  to 
accept  it.  Soon  after  this  came  the  news  to  him  that 
he  had  been  elected  to  the  presidency  of  Western 
College.  He  accepted  the  call  as  of  God  and  went 
to  work  to  aid  a  struggling  institution.  The  greatest 
difficulty  that  met  him  was  its  heavy  indebtedness. 
Judgments  were  alread}^  on  the  docket,  and  mortgages 
were  in  process  of  foreclosure.  The  judgments 
were  paid  off  and  the  mortgages  settled,  so  that  at  the 
time  of  his  resignation  the  debts  were  measurably 
provided  for,  and  the  college  re-located  at  Toledo.  His 
experience  has  taught  him  that  in  founding  a  college, 
at  least  a  partial  endowment  fund  should  first  be 
secured,  and  then  arrangements  should  be  made  for 
buildings.  Having  the  former,  the  latter  could  be  much 
more  readil}^  secured.  The  strength  of  a  college  lies  in 
its  faculty,  not  in  its  buildings  and  grounds,  and  to 
secure  a  good  faculty  you  must  have  means  to  pay 
them  well. 

Thus  far  his  special  work  in  the  church  has  been  as  a 
teacher  and  disciplinarian.  In  his  manner  as  a  teacher 
he  was  dignified,  calm,  easy  and  deliberate,  never 
manifesting  any  irritation  or  undue  hurry.  His  kind 
spirit  and  warm  interest  in  every  student  was  always 
felt.  His  manner  of  teaching  gave  to  his  students 
great  freedom  of  discussion,  which  often  became 
general  and  lively.  If  he  took  smy  position,  then  he 
would  stand  like  a  rock,  and  no  argument  or  opinion 
from  any  authority  would  change  him.  With  his 
genial  good  nature  there  is  a  strong  vein   of   humor, 


TWENTY-FOURTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETHREN  IN  CHRIST.   591 

and  many  were  the  anecdotes  that  he  used  to  illustrate 
his  point.  Thus  his  recitation  room  was  never  monot- 
onous. While  liberal  with  his  students,  he  never  failed 
to  express  his  own  strong  moral  conviction,  and  thus 
his  students  went  away,  feeling  better  by  having  been 
in  his  presence. 

As  a  college  president  his  government  was  liberal 
and  uniform.  He  did  not  one  day  denounce  and  the 
next  day  flatter.  This  uniformity  of  management  won 
respect,  and  few  were  the  temptations  to  violate  regu- 
lations. If  a  student  persisted  in  wrong-doing,  and  dis- 
cipline was  at  last  needed,  it  was  not  administered  with 
any  passion,  but  with  a  firmness  and  force  that  would 
not  soon,  if  ever,  be  forgotten  by  those  who  heard  it 
as  well  as  by  those  who  received  it.  His  knowledge  of 
human  nature  is  keen  and  correct,  and  seldom  did  he 
fail  to  get  out  of  a  student  what  he  w^anted  to  know. 
This  knowledge  of  human  nature,  together  with  his 
general  knowledge  of  books,  made  him  skillful  in  meet- 
ing the  many  calls  for  information  and  advice.  For 
this  purpose  he  was  always  at  command,  and  his  study 
at  his  own  home  was  always  o})en.  Here  the  same  pa- 
tience was  manifested,  he  being  ever  ready  to  help  one 
who  had  come  with  his  complaint  or  his  want. 

As  to  college  management,  one  who  was  a  pupil 
under  him  at  one  time  says :  "  In  one  respect  his  gov- 
ernment marks  him  in  advance  of  any  college  president 
I  know  anj^thing  about.  It  was  in  this,  that  ladies  and 
gentlemen  were  placed  under  exactly  the  same  regula- 
tions. In  most  of  our  educational  institutions  the  rule 
is  that  the  ladies  only  are  to  keep  study  hours,  the 
ladies  only  are  responsible  for  social  oifences.  Here 
the  gentlemen  were  just  as  responsible  in  a  matter  of 


592  EZEKIEL  BORING  KKPHART, 

social  arrangement  that  might  be  a  violation  of  rule  as 
the  ladies  ;  and  they  were  just  as  quickly  called  up  for 
not  keeping  study  hours  as  one  of  the  girls  in  the  ladies' 
hall,  the  only  place  usually  where  there  is  an  account 
kept  of  such  matters." 

Another  of  his  pupils  says  there  was  a  young  man 
who  had  been  accused  of  drinking  and  whom  the  faculty 
had  required  to  sign  a  paper  in  which  he  promised  to 
abstain  while  in  school.  "  I  saw  and  heard  this  young 
man  turn  defiantly  to  the  president  and  declare  he  would 
not  do  it,  and  then  attempted  to  arouse  the  sympathy 
of  the  students  by  appealing  to  them.  President  Kep- 
hart  arose,  and  in  a  voice  like  thunder,  all  the  lion  in 
him  having  been  aroused,  and  with  his  eyes  flashing, 
ordered  the  young  man  to  be  silent ;  then  turned 
to  the  other  members  of  the  faculty,  while  his  whole 
face  twitched  and  quivered  with  the  strength  of  his 
feelings,  and  said,  "  What  shall  we  do  with  this  young 
man?"  They  at  once  voted  that  he  be  expelled  for 
insubordination.  It  is  the  only  time  I  ever  saw  him 
roused.  He  usually  was  very  mild  and  jovial  while 
the  lion  in  him  slumbered. 

"  He  was  quite  an  enthusiast  on  all  scientific  sub- 
jects. I  was  a  member  of  his  class  in  geology,  and  I 
remember  how  the  boys  would  occasionally  get  him 
into  a  discussion,  and  especially  if  they  were  not  pre- 
pared to  recite,  and  he  would  occupy  the  whole  hour 
with  an  animated  discussion  with  his  class,  then  look 
up  in  surprise  when  the  bell  rang  to  close  the  recitation, 
while  the  boys  were  well  pleased  with  the  results  of 
their  efforts." 

At  one  time  he  suspected  that  some  of  his  young 
men  were  in  the  habit  of  going  into  the  janitor's  room 


TWENTY-FOURTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  593 

in  the  college  buildirig  for  the  purpose  of  playing  cards. 
He  came  to  the  building  at  one  time,  and  walking  up  to 
the  door,  found  it  locked.  He  did  not  ^vaittobe  invited 
in,  but  placing  his  shoulder  against  the  door,  Samson- 
like, he  took  it  off,  hinges  and  all,  and  discovered  the 
young  men  in  the  midst  of  their  game.  Is  it  any  won- 
der that  at  times  they  accused  him  of  having  eyes  in 
the  back  of  his  head  f 

His  first  vote  was  cast  for  John  C.  Fremont,  in  1856, 
while  a  student  of  Dickmson  Seminary.  From  its 
origin  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  republican  party. 
He  was  elected  to  the  State  senate  of  Iowa  in  Octobei', 
1871,  and  served  a  term  of  four  years,  refusing  to 
serve  any  longer.  He  received  a  unanimous  nomination 
as  a  candidate  for  governor  of  Iowa,  at  the  hands  of  the 
temperance  republicans  of  the  State,  but  declined  the 
nomination  on  the  ground  that,  in  his  judgment,  it 
was  not  the  way  to  secure  prohibitory  laws  in  the 
State,  but  would  produce  factions,  and  defeat  the  end 
sought.  He  had  no  desire  for  political  life,  but  the 
people,  of  their  own  free  will  and  choice,  called  him, 
and  he  did  not  feel  free  to  decline  the  call.  The  place 
was  wholly  unsought  by  himself,  and  he  believed  then 
and  still  believes  that  it  was  the  call  of  duty  to  him. 
It  was  a  very  fitting  preparation  for  the  work  to  which 
the  church  has  since  called  him.  It  brought  him  face 
to  face  with  a  new  kind  of  life  from  that  to  which  he 
had  been  accustomed,  and  a  different  classof  men.  He 
learned  from  his  connection  with  political  life,  that  much 
of  the  cry  of  corruption  in  politics,  by  the  masses,  is 
without  any  real  foundation,  and  that  sad  as  it  makes 
one  to  say  it,  there  is  as  much  unmanly  scheming 
and  wire  pulling  and  trickery  in  church  as  in  State  Doli- 


594  EZEKIEL  BOKING  KEPHART, 

tics.  While  a  senator  he  lielped  to  revise  the  entire 
code  of  Iowa.  The  present  school  law  of  the  State  was 
in  the  main  shaped  by  him,  and  the  system  of  normal 
institutes  is  his  own  arrangement.  Indeed,  the  school 
law  of  the  State  remains  about  as  the  Fourteenth  and 
Fifteenth  General  Assemblies  left  it. 

On  May  19,  1881,  at  a  General  Conference  held  at 
Lisbon,  Iowa,  he  was  elected  bishop  of  the  Church  of 
the  United  Brethren  in  Christ.  He  resigned  the 
presidency  of  the  college  in  June  of  the  same  year.  He 
was  assigned  to  the  district  of  the  Southwest.  In 
May,  1885,  at  Fostoria,  he  was  reelected.  From  a  child 
his  constant  prayer  was  that  God  would  show  him 
what  to  do.  The  preferments  that  have  come  to  him, 
so  far  as  he  is  concerned,  have  come  unsought.  They 
have  come  in  the  providence  of  God.  He  has  always 
believed  that  God  has  provided  a  place  for  all  his  chil- 
dren, and  that  he  will  show  that  place  to  them  if  they 
will  open  their  eyes  and  see. 

In  answer  to  the  question  once  put  to  him  as  to 
whether  his  work  as  a  bishop  interfered  with  his  pre- 
viously arranged  plans,  he  said  not  ;  "  For  my  plan  of 
life  has  been  to  work  where  God  puts  me,  and  do  his 
will."  The  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  office 
have  been  cheerfully  met,  for  there  has  been  the  per- 
sonal consciousness  of  a  present,  personal  God  to  lean 
upon  and  consult.  Absence  from  his  family  and  his 
books  is  the  most  unpleasant  dutj^  it  brings  to  him.  ,  It 
became  his  duty  to  prepare  the  address  of  the  board  of 
bishops  to  the  General  Conference  of  1885,  which 
brought  the  secrec}^  question  fairly  before  the  confer- 
ence. Whatever  may  be  the  final  disposition  of  the 
question,  it  will  take   rank  as  an  able  paper.      The 


TWENTY-FOURTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  595 

results  which  are  likely  to  grow  out  of  it  will  have 
much  to  do  in  tletermining  the  future  prosperity  of  the 
church.  While  the  bishop  has  no  sympathy  whatever 
with  secret  societies,  he  believes  that  a  Christian  man 
is  good  enough  to  belong  to  any  church.  Broad  and 
liberal-minded  as  he  is,  he  is  an  earnest  devotee  of 
women's  rights,  both  in  church  and  state. 

He  was  married  on  the  4th  of  November,  1860,  to 
Miss  Susan  J.  Trefts,  of  Johnstown,  Pa.  Her  parents 
were  from  Wittenberg,  German}',  and  members  of  the 
Lutheran  Church.  To  them  have  been  born  four  chil- 
dren: Waldo  M.,  born  January  20,  1862,  died  January 
IT,  1869  ;  Elwood  Irving,  born  May,  1866,  died  Novem- 
ber 11,  1866  ;  Emma  May,  born  December  28,  1868, 
Lulu  Maud,  born  October  12,  1871. 

While  death  has  entered  his  circle,  in  spite  of  all,  his 
is  a  delio:htful  home.  The  husband  and  father  leaves  his 
business  cares  and  worries  outside  of  the  gate.  No  mat- 
ter how  weary  he  may  come  in,  no  hasty  or  impatient 
word  escapes  his  lips.  Day  in  and  day  out  he  is  the  same 
even-tempered,  kindly-spirited  man.  He  is  fond  of  a 
joke  and  freely  participates  in  innocent  fun  of  an}'- 
kind.  Generous  to  a  fault  with  the  members  of  his 
family,  he  still  has  almost  perfect  control,  through  the 
spirit  of  love.  The  daughters  adore  him,  and  nothing 
could  induce  them  knowingly  to  offend  him.  Nor  does 
the  wife  play  an  unimportant  part  in  the  making  of  this 
home.  In  unity  and  love  the}^  open  their  doors  to 
strangers  and  friends.  She  with  her  activity  and  good 
taste  has  ever  done  her  part  in  making  it  a  place  of  joy 
and  beauty. 

His  religion  is  that  which  lights  up,  beautifies  and 
gives  peace  to  every  hour.     It  is  especially  manifest 


596  ezekip:l  boring  kephaet, 

toward  his  fellow-men.  He  finds  some  good  in  all,  and 
meets  all  with  the  same  warm  hand.  He  has  his 
reward,  for  few  win  such  general  respect  from  high  and 
low  as  does  he. 

We  should  take  him  to  be  about  six  feet  in  height, 
and  in  weight  not  far  from  220  pounds.  His  complexion 
is  dark.  As  he  sometimes  facetiously  puts  it,  every 
other  Jew  he  meets  asks  him  if  he  is  not  a  descendant 
of  the  children  of  Israel.  His  face  is  usually  closely 
shaven,  except  very  short  whiskers  on  the  side.  His 
compressed  lips  show  great  force  of  character  and  an 
energy  which,  when  once  aroused,  will  brook  no  oppo- 
sition. 

Most  of  our  bishops  have  come  from  that  class  of 
men  who,  in  their  earlier  years,  were  deprived  of  the 
advantages  of  a  collegiate  education.  They  can  not  as 
readily  enter  into  the  nature  of  the  educational  problem 
as  one  who  "  is  to  the  manor  born."  Bishop  Kephart 
is  one  of  the  few  who  has  been  blessed  with  such  ad- 
vantages. The  broad  outlook  which  his  earlier  train- 
ing has  given  him,  and  the  experience  which  he  has 
had  in  college  management,  should  make  him  very  help- 
ful and  very  influential  in  all  that  concerns  the  educa- 
tional department  of  church  work.  The  friends  of 
higher  education  look  to  him  for  generous  sympathy 
and  for  large  plans  for  the  upbuilding  of  this  interest. 
He  is  at  present  the  president  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, and  has  been  since  the  last  General  Conference. 

As  a  presiding  officer  he  is  deliberate,  not  easily  ex- 
cited, cool  and  holds  the  body  well  in  hand.  In  con- 
ference he  examines  courteously  and  kindly,  yet  plainly^ 
to  know  whether  the  itinerants  have  done  their  duty. 
He  is  just  as  careful  to  know  that  the  membership  have 


TWENTY'- FOURTH   BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  597 

dealt  fairly  with  their  pastor.  If  the  preacher's  salary 
has  been  faithfully  earned  and  has  not  3^et  been  paid, 
the  bishop  will  be  apt  to  express  his  opinion  concerning 
it.  When  a  man  or  a  cause  needs  a  word  of  encour- 
agement or  sympathy,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  express 
it.  He  pushes  forward  the  business  of  the  conference 
with  energy,  but  without  hurry,  and  is  both  genial  and 
dignified  in  all  his  management. 

As  a  preacher  he  is  able  and  impressive.  His  ser- 
mons show  great  care  and  thought.  At  first  the  mental 
machinery  moves  a  little  slowl}^  For  a  few  minutes 
you  wish  he  would  hurry,  and  you  may  be  impatient 
to  help  him  utter  the  truths  you  know  are  waiting  to 
be  uttered.  In  a  little  time  he  warms  up  to  the  occasion, 
and  as  blow  after  blow  follows  with  sledge-hammer 
force,  you  see  the  walls  of  opposition  crumbling.  If 
constructing  an  argument,  he  gathers  in  his  facts  and 
truths  from  all  realms,  and  with  wonder  and  astonish- 
ment you  see  the  mighty  structure  rise  before  your 
eyes.  Steady,  without  haste,  with  logical  exactness 
and  with  ponderous  energy  he  moves  on  to  the  goal 
before  him.  He  does  not  soon  exhaust  himself,  but 
when  blow  after  blow  has  been  struck  you  become  the 
more  conscious  of  the  reserved  forces  which  have  not 
yet  been  called  into  action.  Courageous  and  fearless, 
there  is  no  truth  which  he  dare  not  utter,  no  error 
which  he  may  not  attack. 

He  is  yet  in  his  prime.  With  his  generously  trained 
mind  and  his  strong  powers  of  body,  may  we  not  hope 
that  his  work  has  onl}^  begun,  and  that  he  shall  yet  do 
much  more  to  shape  the  destiny  of  the  church  which 
he  so  ably  represents  ? 


598  EZEKIEL  BORING  KEPHAET. 

"Heaven  never  meant  him  for  Uiat  passive  thing 
That  can  be  struck  and  hammered  out  to  suit 
Another's  taste  and  fancy.     He'll  not  dance 
To  every  tune  of  every  minister; 
It  goes  against  his  nature  —  he  can't  do  it. 
He  is  possessed  of  a  commanding  spirit. 
And  his,  too,  is  the  stature  of  command; 
And  well  for  us  it  is  so  !    There  exist 
Few  fit  to  rule  themselves;  but  few  that  use 
Their  intellects  intelligently  —  Then 
Well  for  the  whole  if  there  be  found  a  man 
Who  makes  himself  what  nature  destined  him, 
The  pause,  the  central  point  to  thousand  thousands, 
Where  all  may  press  with  joy  and  confidence. 
Now  such  a  man  is  Wallenstein." 

—  Coleridge. 


JS^  TueJc'L-i^';^ 


DANIEL  KUMLER  FLICKINGER.  D.  D.. 
TWENTY-FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST. 


BISHOP  FLICKINGER  was  born  May  25,  A.  D. 
1824,  near  the  village  of  Seven  Mile,  Butler 
county,  Ohio.  His  parents  were  pious,  industrious  and 
well-to-do  people,  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  Their  ances- 
tors at  no  remote  period  before  them  had  come  from 
Switzerland.  His  grandfather  on  each  side  came  over 
from  the  Old  World  between  1Y80  and  1790. 

The  religion  of  these  parents  was  of  a  very  positive 
kind  and  took  hold  of  their  daily  life.  The  father 
being  a  large  farmer,  ahvays  had  hired  help,  and  at 
times  quite  a  number  of  hands  about  him.  His  house 
was  the  regular  preaching  place  for  many  years,  as 
well  as  the  home  for  the  itinerant  preachers.  Time 
was  taken  for  prayer  morning  and  evening,  and  for 
the  usual  meetings  on  Saturday  at  one  o'clock  p.  m.,  to 
all  of  which  meetings  and  prayers  the  laborers  were 
invited  to  be  present.  In  the  absence  of  the  father,  the 
family  worship  was  conducted  by  the  mother.  Not- 
withstanding this  family  worship  twice  a  day,  all  the 
regular  meetings,  including  the  weekly  prayer  meetings 
and  the  quarterly  meetings  of  the  circuit  were  regu- 
larly attended  by  them.  The  father  and  sometimes 
the  mother  Avere  in  attendance  at  the  quarterly  meetings, 
although  these  were  often  thirty  miles  from  home,  the 
roads  bad  and  the  traveling  done  on  horseback  or  in  a 
lumber  wagon. 

In  1880  an  itinerant  was  living  who  had  a  pair  of 
599 


600  DANIEL  KUMLER  FLICKINGEK, 

saddle  bags,  which  Jacob  Flickinger  had  given  hhn 
forty  seven  years  before  that  time.  He  came  to  his 
liouse  to  preach,  and  had  nothing  with  which  to  carry 
liis  clothes,  save  a  cotton  cloth,  and  no  money  to  spare 
with  which  to  buy.  Mr.  Flickinger  told  him  to  stop 
at  a  certain  saddle  shop,  get  a  pair  of  saddle  bags,  and 
have  them  charged  to  him.  This  he  did,  and  used 
them  for  many  years,  and  they  were  good  w^hen  this 
story  was  narrated,  although  they  are  now  a  little  out 
of  date.  Another  minister  came  to  fill  his  appoint- 
ment one  day,  on  horseback,  as  was  the  custom  in  those 
daj^s,  but  had  no  saddle  on  his  horse.  The  only  one 
on  the  premises  worth  giving  away  belonged  to  the 
boy  whose  history  we  are  writing.  The  father  said, 
"Bring  your  saddle  and  give  it  to  the  preacher,  and  1 
will  buy  you  another."  The  boy  Avas  then  about  fif- 
teen years  of  age,  and  not  very  anxious  to  give  up  liis 
saddle.  Indeed,  to  this  day  he  has  a  remembrance 
that  he  wished,  and  perhaps  said  at  this  time,  that 
he  wished  the  preachers  would  quit  coming  to  their 
house. 

As  early  as  1832,  when  Daniel  was  about  eight  years 
of  age,  he  was  deeply  convicted  of  sin,  and  felt  that  he 
must  become  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus,  or  be  for- 
ever lost ;  up  to  this  time  he  had  never  sworn  an  oath, 
nor  done  any  wicked  act  of  which  he  was  conscious,  yet 
he  felt  that  he  was  a  great  sinner.  Having  heard  a  rela- 
tive tell  his  father  that  children  were  dying  very  rapidly 
about  four  miles  from  there,  he  became  alarmed,  and 
felt  sure  if  he  should  die  he  certainl}^  would  be  lost. 

When  about  twelve  years  of  age  this  young  boy 
was  induced  to  join  the  church.  From  eight  years  of 
age  until  this  time  he  had  frequent  convictions  of  sin. 


TWENTY-FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.    601 

After  joining  he  prayed  in  public,  spoke  in  class  and 
prayer  meetings,  and  did  whatever  he  felt  to  be  duty. 
He  made  it  a  rule  to  pray  four  times  a  day,  which  he 
did  for  several  months,  and  at  times  liis  religious  enjoy- 
ments were  all  that  were  desired.  At  times  he  became 
quite  happy.  Once,  when  plowing  in  a  large  field 
alone,  there  being  a  deep  ditch  at  one  end  of  it,  he 
would  go  into  that  at  times  and  pray,  and  the  Lord 
heard  him  even  at  this  early  period  of  life.  Had  he 
been  faithful  to  this  light,  it  might  have  been  much 
better  for  him. 

This  happ3^  condition  of  things  continued  about  six 
months,  when  he  began  to  neglect  duty,  and  conse- 
quently became  cold  and  indifferent  in  religious  mat- 
ters. He  began  to  dread  prayer  and  class  meetings, 
and  would  have  avoided  them,  but  they  were  at  his 
fathers  house,  and  there  was  no  getting  away  from 
them.  The  father  conducted  the  family  devotions  in 
the  morning,  and  he  and  another  brother  in  the 
evening.  That  he  should  be  required  to  pray  at  night 
before  the  hired  hands  and  others  with  whom  be  had 
sinned  during  the  day  was  a  very  great  annoyance  to 
him.  One  evening,  to  avoid  doing  this  in  the  presence 
of  those  who  had  witnessed  his  iiTelio'ious  acts  durino- 
the  day,  he  set  up  a  tremendous  coughing  and  kept  at 
it  until  another  commenced  praying  and  relieved  him. 
At  another  time  when  class  meetino-  Avas  beino-  held  at 
the  house  one  Sabbath  forenoon,  he  worked  with  one  of 
his  teeth  and  caused  it  to  ache,  preferring  to  suffer 
seriously  with  the  toothache  and  a  guilty  conscience 
rather  than  to  confess  his  sins  and  do  riffht. 

This  unrest  continued  until  Xovember,  1837.  While 
listening   to  a  sermon    one  day  by   Eev.  Isaac  Tlob- 


602  DANIEL  KUMLEK  FIJCKINGEK, 

ertson,  the  Spirit  took  possession  of  his  heart,  and  the 
result  was  that  he  determined,  if  possible,  to  return  to 
God.  For  days  and  nights  he  saw  his  wickedness  as  he 
had  never  seen  it  before.  He  remained  in  this  condition 
for  weeks  and  months.  In  the  house  of  God,  at  the 
mourners'  bench,  in  the  barn,  the  fields,  the  woods,  by 
day  and  by  night,  he  everywhere  sought  deliverance 
from  this  burden  of  guilt.  Often,  after  the  rest  of  the 
family  had  gone  to  bed,  he  would  go  to  the  barn  or 
field  and  wrestle  with  God  until  after  midnight. 

Finally  the  burden  was  partiall}'^  removed,  and  he 
promised  God  to  discharge  all  known  duty,  and  with 
this  spirit  he  began  the  year  1840.  One  cold  night  in 
the  month  of  March,  1840,  while  returning  from  a 
prayer  meeting  to  which  he  had  gone  four  miles  over  a 
bad,  rough  road  on  horseback,  the  light  of  God's  coun- 
tenance came  upon  him  with  a  clearness  not  to  be  mis- 
taken. The  peace,  serenity  and  rest  then  and  there  re- 
ceived were  indescribable. 

His  thii'st  for  knowledge  came  back  to  him  with 
greater  intensity  than  ever  before,  and  he  desired  a 
better  training,  that  he  might  be  able  to  accomplish 
more  good  thereb3^  This  was  so  impressed  upon  him 
that  he  proposed  to  his  father  that  if  he  would  furnish 
him  money  to  obtain  a  collegiate  education  which 
Avould  not  exceed  half  that  he  finally  gave  him,  he 
would  expect  nothing  more  from  his  estate.  This  he 
refused  to  do,  saying  he  had  enough  learning  to  make 
him  useful,  and  more  might  make  him  proud  and  be 
injurious  to  him. 

Notwithstanding  his  father  thought  his  boy  should 
become  a  preacher,  he,  like  many  others,  did  not  think 
education   necessary  to   good   preaching.      Even    the 


TWENTY- FIFTH  BISHOl'  UMITED  BRETHKEN  IN  CHRIST.    603 

United  Brethren  of  that  day  did  not  appreciate  educa- 
tion, and  some  of  the  old  ministers  denounced  it.  The 
old  class  leader  and  a  number  of  the  ministers  who 
stopped  at  his  father's  house,  said  to  him  that  they 
were  impressed  that  he  ought  to  preach.  One  of  them 
went  so  far  as  to  propose  that  he  would  make  an  ap- 
pointment for  him.  So  anxious  was  he  for  an  educa- 
tion that,  when  this  was  denied  him,  he  did  not  listen 
to  the  advice  of  others,  or  even  his  own  convictions,  as 
to  speaking  in  public  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  As  a 
result,  his  spiritual  enjoyment  began  to  dechne,  and 
his  life  was  not  very  satisfactory  to  himself  or  to 
others. 

In  the  meantime,  with  what  leisure  he  had,  he 
began  reviewing  his  old  studies  and  reading  miscel- 
laneous books.  He  wrote  words  and  their  definitions, 
and  carried  them  with  him  when  he  went  to  work. 
Having  to  plow  a  good  deal,  he  would  hold  the  plow  with 
one  hand  and  his  home-made  dictionary  in  the  other. 
He  also  carried  with  him  a  small  pocket  Testament, 
and  read  some  verses,  and  as  he  went  along  plowing  he 
Avould  repeat  them  over  and  over  until  they  were 
memorized.  This  was  very  valuable,  for  the  Scriptures 
which  he  can  the  most  readily  recall  to-day,  and  the 
words  with  which  he  is  most  familiar,  were  then  and 
there  learned. 

In  the  summer  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  he 
lost  his  health,  and  for  four  years  was  a  great  sufferer 
from  dyspepsia,  liver  trouble  and  general  debility. 
His  disease,  w^ith  the  medicine  taken  to  cure  it,  well 
nigh  destroyed  both  mind  and  body.  In  after  years, 
as  he  came  to  look  back  on  these  afflictions,  he  saw 
how  they  were  overruled  for  his  good.     But  for  these. 


604  DANIEL  KUMLEK  FLICKINGER, 

in  all  probability  he  raight  have  become  a  worldly- 
minded  man,  giving  all  his  energies  to  the  acquisition 
of  wealth. 

His  father  being  so  decidedly  against  his  receiving 
a  college  education,  he  gave  up  all  hope  of  it  until  after 
the  death  of  his  father.  It  was  made  his  duty  to 
remain  with  his  mother  one  year  after  his  father's  death, 
Avhich  brought  him  to  his  majority.  He  was  twenty- 
one  in  May;  the  following  fall  he  went  to  Germantown 
to  attend  a  seminary  under  the  control  of  Rev.  Jacob 
Pentz.  During  this  year  he  made  rapid  progress  in 
his  studies,  but  was  so  broken  down  in  health  again 
that  he  became  almost  a  wreck.  He  was  compelled  to 
quit  school  and  was  forbidden  to  study.  Having  spent  a 
month  in  recruiting,  his  healtli  was  so  far  restored  that 
he  was  able  to  teach  a  s])ring  term  of  school.  The 
following  winter  he  taught  six  months.  This  brings  him 
to  the  spring  of  1846,  when  he  was  twenty-two  years 
of  age,  and  his  health  moderately  good.  He  was 
married,  February  25,  1847,  to  Miss  Mary  Lintner. 
He  commenced  farming,  and  was  doing  well  financially 
and  reasonably  well  religiously.  In  August,  1848,  his 
wife  became  afflicted  with  sore  eyes,  which  became  so 
bad  that  she  could  not  take  care  of  herself  or  her  child, 
born  February,  1848.  This  continued  so  that  it  was 
difficult  for  him  to  be  away  from  home  at  all.  At  the 
request  of  her  mother  he  took  lier  to  her  home,  where 
she  remained  most  of  the  winter.  He  taught  school 
again  that  winter,  and  his  wife's  bad  health  continuing, 
in  the  spring  of  1849  he  sold  off  his  stock  and  rented 
his  farm.  This  gave  him  time  to  do  some  reading  and 
studying,  and  may  have  suggested  to  those  who  insisted 
on  his  preaching,  that  he  was  arranging  to  do  so ;   but 


TWKNTY-FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BKETIIKEK  IN  CIIKIST.  605 

such  was  not  his  plan.  In  after  years  he  saw  how  God 
was  leading  him  all  this  time  in  strange  paths.  His 
wife's  sickness  deranged  all  his  plans,  and  put  an  end 
to  his  financial  prosperity.  He  was  making  money  on 
his  farm  and  getting  along  so  well  that  he  had  already 
bought  a  second  farm  and  would  soon  have  paid  for  it. 
This  would  have  given  him  317  acres  of  fine  land  in 
one  body  in  Butler  county.  As  matters  were  he  could 
not  carry  on  business,  so  taught  school.  He  still 
hoped  to  complete  his  education,  and  with  this  in  view, 
just  before  his  wife's  death,  he  bought  a  house  and  lot 
in  Oxford.  His  wife  died  September  30,  1851.  At 
the  time  of  her  marriage  she  was  not  a  Christian  woman, 
yet  was  ver}^  circumspect  in  all  her  life.  Her  self  con- 
trol, patience  and  good  sense  often  checked  impatience 
in  him.  About  two  years  after  her  marriage  she  em- 
braced religion  and  joined  the  United  Brethern  Church 
and  lived  a  consistent  Christian  life  until  her  death  in 
1851. 

He  never  had  license  to  exhort.  Kev.  J.  Coons, 
preacher  in  charge,  asked  the  class,  without  his  knowl- 
edge, to  recommend  him  to  quarterly  conference,  which 
they  did,  and  license  to  preach  was  granted  him.  At 
this  time  he  was  a  class  leader.  The  license  was  dated 
x\pril,  1849,  and  was  retained  by  the  leader  for  more 
than  a  year.  In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Flickinger  made  two 
appointments  and  tried  to  preach  some  half  dozen  of 
times  for  others.  At  the  session  of  Annual  Conference 
in  1850  he  was  received  into  it.  When  asked  by  Bishop 
J.  J.  Glossbrenner  if  he  "felt  moved  upon  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  preach  the  gospel,"  he  answered  that  a  num- 
ber of  the  brethren  said  it  was  his  duty,  and  that  they 
had  brought   him  there ;    he   had   no   very   powerful 


606  DANIEL  KUMLEK  FLICKINGER, 

impressions  on  tlie  subject,  but  was  willing  to  do  his 
duty,  and,  if  the  conference  did  not  object,  he  would 
see  what  he  could  do.  The  bishop  gave  him  a  signifi- 
cant look,  and  told  him  he  could  withdraw.  He  was 
voted  in,  has  been  a  member  of  it  ever  since,  and  aU 
unreserved  itinerant,  going  wherever  the  church  sent 
him. 

He  was  sent  as  junior  preacher  with  Kev."  Mr.  N'orris 
to  Mount  Pleasant  circuit.  Thev  had  nine  regular 
appointments,  which  they  filled  every  two  weeks.  The}^ 
gave  each  jjlace  a  protracted  meeting,  and  had  five  or 
six  good  revivals,  at  which  about  200  new  members 
were  taken  in.  The  circuit  had  agreed  to  pay 
each  of  them  $200.  At  the  third  quarterly  meeting 
they  proposed  to  dismiss  Mr.  Norris  and  keep  Mr. 
Flickinger,  on  the  ground  that  they  could  not  support 
more  than  one  preacher.  Flickinger  proposed  to  go, 
on  the  ground  that  he  would  rather  "go  and  preach  to 
some  poor  people  for  nothing,  than  to  preach  to  rich 
and  stingy  people  like  them  for  small  pay.  To  send 
away  a  poor  preacher  because  unwilling  to  pay  him, 
and  want  to  retain  one  who  had  a  farm  and  would  not 
need  much,  was  a  shame.  They  opened  their  eyes  and 
ears  when  thus  talked  to  by  the  junior  preacher,  and  the 
result  was  that  both  of  them  stayed.  There  was  about 
hoo  millions  of  monev  represented  at  these  nine 
appointments. 

This  being  his  first  field  of  labor,  with  no  special 
preparation  for  the  ministry,  and  with  not  half  a  dozen 
sermons  on  hand,  the  young  preacher  was  kept  quite 
busy.  He  would  fill  his  appointments  on  Sunday,  and 
hurry  home  on  Monday,  so  as  to  fill  up  for  the  next 
round.     He  could  use  the  same  sermon  at  three  or  four 


TWENTY-FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.   607 

l^laces  on  the  circuit.  Still  he  had  little  time  to  spare. 
He  did  not  know  at  that  time  that  books  of  skeletons 
were  published  to  aid  those  who  desired  such  help.  He 
would  select  his  text,  and  then  think  and  think  what 
to  say,  and  then  would  write  down  what  he  proposed 
to  use.  He  would  spend  from  four  to  six  days  in  pre- 
paring one  sermon.  He  often  lamented  in  later  years 
the  fact  that  he  did  not  have  a  good  education  and  the 
training  which  a  good  theological  seminary  would  have 
given  him.  Not  having  time  to  prepare  funeral  ser- 
mons, he  avoided  these  occasions  as  much  as  he  could. 
He  did  find  time  to  send  some  shot  and  shell  into  the 
Campbellite  and  Ilniversalist  camps,  which  he  hoped 
did  some  effective  work. 

His  wife  liaving  died  about  the  time  of  conference, 
he  declined  to  travel.  The  stationing  committee,  how- 
ever, gave  him  an  appointment  of  which  he  did  not 
learn  until  after  the  burial  of  his  wife.  He  went  to 
the  circuit,  but  at  the  end  of  the  second  quarter  offered 
his  resignation.  They  prevailed  on  him  to  remain 
until  they  could  get  another  preacher,  which  they  did 
not  care  to  get.  At  the  end  of  the  year  his  health  was 
again  broken.  He  had  held  a  number  of  protracted 
meetings,  and  had  about  seventy  accessions.  When  he 
went  to  conference  he  carried  with  him  about 
$60  of  missionary  money,  which  astonished  the 
people,  as  it  was  many  times  more  than  had  ever  come 
from  one  circuit  before  for  such  a  purpose. 

Bishop  Glossbrenner  was  on  his  way  to  attend  the 
Indiana,  Illinois  and  Iowa  Conferences,  and  gave  him  an 
invitation  to  go  with  him,  which  invitation  he  accepted. 
This  trip  gave  him  a  knowledge  of  the  church  and  of  the 
ministry,  which  was  of  great  value  to  him  in  deteimin' 


608     •  DANIEL  KUMLER  FLICKINGER, 

ing  his  aftej'  work.  At  the  Indiana  Conference  he  met 
the  Blairs  from  Kentucky,  who  were  there  to  get  a 
young  man  to  go  witli  tliem  to  be  an  itinerating  mis- 
sionary. The}^  pleaded  long  and  hard,  but  he  feared  his 
health  would  not  be  sufficient  to  endure  the  hardships, 
and  so  put  them  off.  From  this  point  they  went  to  the 
Illinois  Conference,  which  met  at  Westfield.  It  took 
them  ten  days  to  go  from  here  to  Knoxville,  where  the 
Iowa  Conference  would  be  held.  Some  interesting  ex- 
periences occurred  on  the  way,  such  as  we  shall  not  here 
repeat.  They  visited  Iowa  City,  Muscatine,  and  Rock- 
ford,  111.,  which  place  they  reached,  after  riding  one 
night,  just  in  time  to  see  tlie  train  leaving.  The  bishop 
gathered  up  his  satchel  and  ran  after  it,  calling  out  to  it 
to  stop  ;  but  it  would  not  stop,  even  for  a  bishop.  Mr. 
Flickinger  reached  home,  after  an  absence  of  one  month, 
in  fair  health,  and  fuller  of  information  as  to  the  needs 
of  the  church  than  when  he  started  on  his  trip.  "Wlien 
he  left  home  he  left  with  $80  and  a  good  silver  watch 
in  his  pocket.  His  travehng  expenses  cost  him  about 
$50,  and  the  remainder,  with  his  watch,  went  to  the 
poor  preachers.  When  he  reached  home  he  had  saved 
less  than  |2  from  his  funds.  He  so  pitied  these  poor 
preachers  that  his  overcoat  and  watch  were  left  with 
them.  One  man  was  about  to  lose  his  horse,  and  Mr. 
Flickinger  gave  him  his  watcli  and  told  him  to  put  that 
in  on  his  debt,  which  he  did  for  about  $20.  Tins  opened 
his  eyes  to  the  necessity  of  getting  moi*e  money  for 
church  purposes,  especially  for  preaching. 

After  spending  a  month  in  Ohio,  looking  after  his 
farm  and  children,  he  went  to  visit  Bishop  Glossbren- 
ner  and  see  some  friends  in  Pennsylvania.  On  the  9th 
of  January,  1853,  he  was  married  to  Cornelia  Virginia 


TWENTV-FIFTIl   BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.    609 

Glossbrenner,  eldest  daughter  of  the  bishop,  with  whom 
he  was  not  permitted  long  to  live.  She  had  ripened 
for  glory,  and  the  Lord  took  her.  She  died  August  17, 
1854.  Being  a  widower  from  September,  1851,  to  Jan- 
uary, 1853,  and  then  becoming  one  again  in  about 
twenty  months  after  marriage  was  a  heavy  stroke  to 
him.  In  his  loneliness  and  distress  he  sought  the  Lord 
for  help. 

Soon  after  his  second  marriage  he  was  appointed  to 
a  mission  in  Cincinnati  in  connection  with  colporteuring 
for  the  American  Tract  Society.  At  the  sitting  of  the 
next  Annual  Conference  he  was  ordained  by  Bishop 
Edwards  and  sent  to  Dayton  station,  consisting  of 
tliree  appointments,  Rev.  R.  Rineliart  in  charge.  For 
his  first  year's  preaching  he  had  received  $121 ;  the 
second  one,  Lewisburg,  paid  $187;  the  part  of  a  year 
in  Cincinnati  amounted  to  barely  enough  to  pay  board- 
ing, and  the  fourth  year  in  Dayton  he  received  $283. 

About  the  first  of  November,  1851,  he  said  to  a 
member  of  the  board  of  missions  that  if  no  better  man 
could  be  found  to  accompany  W.  J.  Shuey  to  Africa 
that  he  might  present  his  name.  His  name  was  con- 
sidered, but  on  account  of  his  uncertain  health  the 
board  declined  to  appoint  him.  He  was  sent  for  one 
day  in  December  to  come  to  the  room  which  since 
1857  he  has  occupied  as  missionary  secretary,  and  was 
informed  that  he  had  been  appointed  to  go  to  Africa 
with  Mr.  Shuey,  provided  he  would  remain  two  years. 
He  asked  until  2  o'clock  p.  m.  to  consider  the  matter,  when 
he  agreed  to  go.  At  6  p.  m.  the  same  evening  he 
started  for  New  York  city  to  snake  arrangements  for 
the  voyage.  He  resigned  his  charge,  adjusted  his  busi- 
ness matters,  and  in  company  with  W.  J.  Shuey  and 


610  DANIEL  kumlf:k  FLICKIXGER, 

D.  C,  Kumler  lie  left  Dayton  on  the  ith  of  January 
1865,  and  expected  to  sail  in  a  few  days.  They  finally 
sailed  on  the  23d.  They  reached  Africa  in  safety ; 
kShuey  and  Kumler  remained  but  a  short  time,  leaving 
Flickinger  as  the  sole  representative  of  the  church. 

He  made  Goodhope  station,  of  the  Mendi  mission, 
his  headquarters,  meantime  exploring  the  country  a 
good  deal.  Various  points  were  thought  of,  but  for 
good  reasons  given  up,  until  it  was  thought  best  to  se- 
cure Shengay.  Flickinger  spent  most  of  his  Sabbaths 
at  Goodhope  and  preached  there,  as  they  had  no  minis- 
ter. In  October,  1855,  he  married  Miss  Susan  Wool- 
sey,  who  was  a  teacher  at  Mendi  mission  station  ;  but 
after  her  marriage  she  remained  at  Goodhope,  assisting 
them.  At  the  close  of  the  year  he  had  several  attacks 
of  fever,  and  was  urged  to  leave  for  Freetown,  which 
he  did.  The  physician  advised  him  to  return  to  Amer- 
ica, which  he  did,  arriving  in  time  to  meet  the  board, 
which  convened  Januar}'^  4th,  in  Mount  Pleasant,  Pa. 
By  July  he  was  so  far  recovered  that  he  could  deliver 
lectures  once  a  week  on  Africa. 

During  July  and  August  he  made  at  the  rate  of 
$300  per  week  in  notes  and  cash  for  the  missionary 
cause.  He  seemed  to  have  an  inspiration  and  desire  to 
obtain  missionary  funds.  During  these  trips  he  had 
some  amusing  experiences.  The  whole  African  field 
and  work  was  comparatively  new  to  our  people.  He 
was  often  introduced  as  a  colored  missionary.  On  one 
occasion,  after  portraying  the  sad  condition  of  the 
Africans,  a  woman  who  heard  him  through  said,  "They 
might  go  to  hell  before  she  would  pay  a  cent  to  save  such 
superstitious  heathen  as  these."  Another  person,  after 
listening  to  him  for  some  fifteen  minutes,  turned  and 


TWENTY-FTFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  611 

left  the  lioiise  in  great  anger,  saying  he  did  not  come 
to  hear  a  man  talk  about  "  niggers,"  He  was  revisited 
the  next  day  by  Mr,  Flickinger,  who  talked  Africa  to 
liim  all  the  afternoon  and  until  midnight,  and  when  he 
finally  left  him  the  next  morning,  he  had  his  note  for 
$50,  which  was  all  paid. 

At  the  conference  in  Cincinnati,  in  1856,  not  being 
in  good  condition  to  return  to  Africa,  he  applied  for 
work,  and  was  finally  sent  to  Piqua,  Ohio,  In  about  two 
months  he  had  the  church  repaired,  the  classes  at  work, 
and  some  additions  of  members.  At  this  juncture  the 
executive  committee  of  the  board  of  missions  sent  for 
him  to  meet  them.  At  this  time  J.  K,  Billheimer  and 
D.  Witt,  having  been  previously  appointed  to  go  to 
Africa,  were  now  in  New  York,  expecting  soon  to  sail. 
Mr.  J.  C.  Bright  opposed  the  sending  of  these  men, 
unless  Flickinger  would  go  with  them.  Shengay  was 
not  yet  in  our  control.  It  would  be  difficult  for  these 
new  men  to  get  it,  and  if  they  should  take  sick,  and  be 
compelled  to  return,  the  church  would  become  dis- 
couraged. Unless  Flickinger  would  consent  to  go 
along,  secure  Shengay  and  initiate  these  men  into 
their  work,  Bright  would  oppose  their  going  at  all. 
It  was  finally  officially  agreed  to  recall  the  men  unless 
Flickinger  could  go  with  them.  He  agreed  to  go,  and 
the  next  morning  by  4  a.  m.,  was  on  his  way  to  l^ew 
York.  Their  vessel  had  sailed ,  but  they  finally  departed 
December  5,  1856'.  This  was  a  severe  trial  to  him 
under  the  circumstances,  but  rather  than  see  the  mission 
abandoned  he  went,  and  the  result  was  that  it  was  of 
the  Lord's  appointing.  He  returned  the  following  Ma}^ 
in  time  to  meet  the  General  Conference,  which  met  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  when  he  was  elected  corresponding 
secretary  of  the  missionary  society,  in  May,  1857. 


012  DANIEL    KUMLER    FLICRINGER, 

He  did  not  think  it  was  right  to  displace  J.  C. 
Bright,  who  had  been  an  efficient  worker,  and  there- 
fore tendered  his  resignation  to  the  board.  Mr.  Bright 
was  placed  on  the  board  of  managers,  and  at  his  urgent 
request,  Mr.  Flickinger  agreed  to  remain  where  he  had 
been  placed.  He  at  once  entered  on  the  duties  of  his 
office,  Avhich  at  that  early  day  meant  to  travel  from 
place  to  place,  lecture,  preach,  talk  missions  generally 
and  solicit  mone}".  It  was  thought  he  ought  to  bring 
most  of  the  money  necessary  to  keep  the  society  at 
work.  He  visited  the  conferences  and  in  ten  days,  at 
four  different  conferences,  he  received  $3,000,  in  good 
notes  and  cash,  much  of  it  cash.  While  in  the  East  on 
work  of  this  kind,  he  was  taken  seriously  sick,  and 
brought  home,  and  was  informed  by  his  physician  that 
he  could  not  live;  He  therefore  resigned  his  secretary- 
ship, and  his  predecessor,  J.  C.  Bright,  was  elected  to 
remain  until  the  meeting  of  the  board.  He  could  not 
continue  because  of  failing  health,  and  Flickinger  was 
again  elected,  and  from  that  time.  May,  1858,  until  1885 
he  has  been  the  efficient  corresponding  secretary  of  the 
Home  Frontier  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ,  and  with 
slight  exceptions  when  out  of  the  country  he  did  the 
work  of  the  office. 

In  the  fall  of  1861  it  looked  as  though  our  mission 
in  Africa  must  die.  Mr.  Billheimer  and  alT  the  other 
missionaries  had  come  home  sick,  and  there  was  no 
money  to  send  others,  or  to  pay  debts  in  Africa.  The 
mission  was  left  in  the  care  of  Rev.  J.  A.  Williams,  a 
native  African,  who  held  the  property,  but,  under  the 
circumstances  existing  then,  could  do  but  little.  Flick- 
inger, in  185f),  had  bought  a  house  and  lot  in  Freetown, 
which  was  to  be  a  kind  of  recruiting  station.     After 


TWENTY-FIFTH  mSHOl'   FIsITED  BKP:THREK   IX  CHRIST.  613 

securing-  Sliengay  this  was  to  be  sold  ;  because  of  some 
flaw  in  tlie  title,  Mr.  Billlieiraer  had  failed  to  make  a  sale. 
The  Civil  War  was  upon  us,  and  our  people  thought 
they  had  enough  to  do,  without  giving  much  attention 
to  Africa.  Finally  Flickinger  agreed  to  go  at  his  own 
expense,  sell  property,  pay  debts,  and  put  things  in 
working  condition  again.  The  committee  accepted  his 
proposition.  He  managed  to  sell  the  property  there, 
paid  the  debts,  allayed  the  unpleasant  feeling  which 
Chief  Caulker  manifested  toward  us,  and  made  him 
much  more  approachable  than  he  had  been  before. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1865,  the  question  of 
the  publication  of  a  missionary  Sabbath  school  paper 
came  up.  The  Missionary  Telesco])e  had  been  suspended, 
mainly  because  of  the  6,000  readers  which  it  had, 
at  least  two-thirds  received  it  gratis,  because  they 
were  life  members  or  life  directors.  Mr.  Flickino-er  felt 
that  the  board  of  missions  must  have  an  organ  throu oh 
Avhich  it  could  reach  the  people.  The  General  Confer- 
ence authorized  him  to  issue  a  Missionary  Visitor  as 
soon  as  1,500  subscribers  could  be  secured.  He 
knew  it  would  be  hard  work  to  secure  subscribers 
until  the  people  saw  the  paper,  and  knew  what  it  would 
be ;  so  he  at  once  issued  1,500'  and  sent  them  to 
ministers.  Sabbath  school  superintendents  and  oth- 
ers. This  was  in  Juh^  and  he  did  not  look 
for  any  returns  until  the  next  April.  At  the 
end  of  the  second  year,  not  counting  anything 
for  editorial  work,  it  paid  expenses,  and  since  that 
time  has  proved  a  financial  success.  He  himself  say^s 
concerning  this,  as  well  as  similar  periods  in  his  life: 
"  With  this,  as  with  a  number  of  other  things  ^f ith 
which  I  have  had  to  do,  I  walked  bv  faith.    In  mv  zeal 


fiH  DANIEL    KUMLER    FLICKINGER, 

for  some  things  I  have  taken  great  risks,  but  God 
brought  me  through  safel}'.  There  are  times  when  I 
have  had  a  kind  of  prophetic  inspiration,  have  acted 
upon  it  and  came  out  all  right.  " 

In  an  article  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  J.  K.  Billheimer,  in 
the  Telesco^pe  for  February  18,  1885,  occurs  the  follow- 
ing earnest  language  :  "  Our  corresponding  secretary, 
Mr.  Flickinger,  is  now  in  Africa  for  the  eighth  time. 
Twice  he  went  there  to  help  locate  the  missions,  six 
times  he  has  gone  there  to  organize,  plan,  advise,  coun- 
sel and  encourage  the  work.  Four  times  he  has  gone 
at  the  earnest  solicitations  of  the  superintendent  and 
other  parties.  This  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  our  success. 
The  six  trips  our  secretary  has  made  to  Africa  have 
cost  the  church  much  less  than  it  would  if  he  had  not 
gone,  unless  we  value  what  we  have  there  at  nothing. 
*  *  *  "Why  this  frequent  crossing  of  the  ocean? 
Wliy  not  elect  a  missionary  hishop  f  Africa  is  our  field. 
We  are  adapted  to  the  work,  our  hearts  are  in  it,  and 
God  is  blessing  our  labors  there  and  the  church  at 
home  most  wonderfully." 

This  question  came  up  before  the  board  that  con- 
vened at  Fostoria,  May  13,  1885.  The  finance  com- 
mittee recommended  the  appointment  of  a  missionary 
bishop.  It  was  urged  that  if  such  a  person  were  ap- 
pointed he  could  make  his  headquarters  in  London  ; 
could  hold  the  conferences  in  Germany  and  Africa,  and 
spend  the  remainder  of  his  time  in  soliciting  funds  in 
Great  Britain  and  in  the  United  States.  A  letter  Avas 
read  from  J.  J.  Jones,  secretary  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society,  commending  our  methods  of  carrying- 
on  the  African  mission.  As  a  result  of  all  this,  the 
board     unanimously   agreed    to    i-ecommend    to    the 


TWENTY-FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHRF:N  IN  CHRIST.  015 

conference,  soon  to  assemble,  the  appointment  of  a  mis- 
sionary bishop.  The  subject  came  before  the  conference 
a  few  days  later,  and  the  following  resolution  was 
adopted  :  "That  a  missionaiy  bishop  be  elected,  to  bo 
known  as  foreign  missionary  superintendent."  D.  K. 
riickinger  was  therefore  elected  missionar}^  bishop  on 
the  first  ballot.  A  difference  of  opinion  prevailing  as  to 
what  portion  of  his  time  should  be  spent  abroad,  he 
tendered  his  resignation,  which  was  not  accepted. 

In  September  he  w^rites  to  the  Telescope,  "  I  am 
now  off  for  Africa  for  the  ninth  time.  I  most  heart- 
ily wished  the  General  Conference  to  give  my  place  to 
another,  and  did  feel  much  like  stepping  aside  and  not 
attempting  another  vo3\age  to  Africa."  He  goes  to 
work  again  witli  his  accustomed  zeal.  "  Just  think  of 
the  fact,  that  in  all  tlie  thirty  years  we  have  worked  in 
Africa  we  have  expended  $150,360.32  ;  of  this  amount 
other  societies  have  contributed  at  least  $35,000,  so 
that,  all  told,  we  have  only  given  toward  the  support  of 
the«Gospel  in  heathen  lands,  $115,000.  With  this,  nine 
mission  stations  have  been  put  into  operation,  hundreds 
of  chiklren  have  been  educated,  civilization  has  been 
given  to  hundreds  of  adults,  in  whole  or  in  part,  and 
the  Gospel  has  been  preached  to  thousands  of  people, 
over  1,500  of  whom  have  renounced  heathenism,  and 
professed  Christ ;  and  a  considerable  number  of  them, 
both  in  life  and  death,  showed  that  they  had  been  with 
Christ  and  learned  of  Him." 

On  the  forty-fourth  dav  out,  he  writes :  "  I  read 
and  wrote  all  my  eyes  would  allow,  and  Avalked  and 
whistled  all  I  could  stand  in  that  way.  I  did  about  all 
the  work  and  furnished  most  of  the  amusement  on 
board. 


61<)  DANIEL    KUMLEK    FLICKINGER, 

"Gathering  facts  for  the  stoiy  of  missions  in  the 
United  Brethren  Church  has  brought  to  mind  many  of 
the  struggles  through  wliich  the  Board  of  Missions  and 
its  officers  have  passed  since  1853.  Also  some  of  the 
victories  so  gloi'iously  achieved  in  the  face  of  the  most 
determined  opposition.  How  unexpectedly,  and  just 
in  the  nick  of  time,  did  the  Lord  raise  up  friends  to 
furnish  the  money  to  keep  the  board  from  abandoning 
some  important  missions.  Then  Mr,  Blanchard  came 
from  Carlisle,  Ky., —  came  to  Dayton  to  find  an 
anti-slavery  church  to  which  he  gave  $4,200  in  cash,  as 
he  did,  at  a  time  when  we  were  much  in  need. 
And  the  Lord  ])ut  it  into  the  hearts  of  such  men  as 
Bishop  Russell,  Brown,  Lane,  Lohr  and  others  to  give 
us  from  $5,000  to  $10,000  each.  We  may  well  say, 
'Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow.'  Yea, 
more,  we  may  well  trust  Him  to  nelp  us  out  of  our 
present  embarrassments." 

In  May,  1886,  he  is  present  at  the  annuaJ  meeting 
of  the  Board  of  Missions.  Since  his  election  as  bishop 
he  has  labored  in  England,  Germany,  Africa  and  the 
United  States.  Lie  has  given  time,  money  and  toil  to 
the  work.  AYhile  in  this  country  he  is  not  idle. 
A  man  of  his  active,  busy  temperament  can  not  be  idle. 

In  the  fall  of  1886  he  starts  for  Africa  again.  In 
December  of  that  year  he  holds  the  eighth  African 
Mission  district  conference.  Burdens  press  upon  him. 
The  work  is  inviting,  but  he  is  crippled  for  means. 
"  Truly,  we  have  much  to  be  tiiankful  for,  and,  es- 
pecially, that  souls  are  coming  to  Christ  by  scores  and 
hundreds  in  this  dark  land,  but.  Oh,  how  much  we  have 
to  deplore  in  the  shortcomings  of  many  of  our  people 
here  and  because  of  the  incorrigibleness  of  not  a  few 


TWENTY-FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  617 

who  are  still   unmoved,  though  the}^  have   heard  the 
Gospel,  and  some  of  them  for  many  years." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rufus  Clark,  of  Denver,  Colo., 
having  given  him  $5,000  the  previous  August,  for  the 
erection  of  a  training  school  in  Africa,  to  prepare  men 
for  the  work  of  teaching  and  preaching,  he  at  once 
arranged  to  erect  such  a  building,  and  on  January  31, 
1887,  the  corner-stone  \vas  laid  and  an  address  made  by 
Bishop  Flickinger,  from  which  we  take  the  following- 
interesting  paragraph  :  "  The  building  is  to  be  fifty- 
one  feet  long,  thirty -one  feet  wide,  and  its  walls,  which 
are  stone,  twenty-three  feet  above  the  ground.  The 
corner-stone  and  many  others  in  it,  came  from  the  walls 
of  John  Newton's  slave  pen  on  Plaintain  island,  three 
miles  from  this  place.  All  the  stone  to  be  used  is  gen- 
erously given  by  Chief  Neale  Caulker,  a  true  friend  of 
ours.  Surely,  Mr.  Newton,  once  a  cruel  slave  tender, 
and  afterward  a  celebrated  minister  of  the  Gospel, 
would  rejoice  with  us  were  he  here,  to  see  these  stones 
now  used  for  a  house  in  which  to  train  men  and  women 
to  work  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  wickedness  of 
every  kind."  Earl}'-  in  April  he  was  on  his  way  to  Eng- 
land again.  May  25th  and  26th  finds  him  in  Germany 
holding  the  annual  missionary  district  meeting.  Hav- 
ing spent  over  four  months  in  Africa,  his  health  is  giv- 
ing way,  and  about  the  middle  of  July  he  starts  for  the 
United  States.  Since  his  election  as  bishop  he  has 
made  two  trips  to  Africa  and  three  to  Germany.  He 
can  not  come  home  without  reminding  his  brethren  once 
more  of  their  duty  by  telling  them  "that  members  of 
the  United  Brethren  Church  will  pay  more  for  tobacco 
and  jewelry  and  toys  in  one  year  thas  would  pay  all 
the  debt,  and  yet   they  k:ep  on  throwing  away  the 


<>18  DANIEI.    KDMLER    FJJCKINGER, 

Lord's  mone}^  for  useless  and  hurtful  things,  and  starve 
the  Lord's  cause  and  their  own  souls." 

He  reaches  home  in  July,  spends  such  portions  of 
his  time  in  lecturing,  writing  and  visiting  the  confer- 
ences as  his  health  and  the  health  of  his  family  will 
allow.  The  last  of  October  he  sails  arain  for  Eng-land. 
I^ovember  the  3d  he  writes  from  London,  where  he 
had  been  attending  some  missionary  meetings,  which 
did  not  yield  the  good  results  anticipated.  "We  suspect 
he  was  a  little  dissatisfied  when  he  penned  these  perti- 
nent queries  to  the  Telescojye :  "  Why  did  not  the 
blessed  Jesus  set  apart  a  gold  mine,  as  well  as  die, 
from  which  to  get  money  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the 
heathen?  It  might  easily  be  furnished  by  Christians, 
but  as  they  onl3^  give  pennies  where  they  ought  to 
give  dollars,  as  a  rule,  it  certainly  would  have  been 
better  if  the  Lord  had  provided  for  mone}'  in  some 
such  way.  The  shortest  way  out  of  all  this  trouble 
would  have  been  to  have  killed  our  first  parents  for 
sinning,  and  not  allowed  any  heathen  to  have  been 
born.  In  that  event  there  would  have  been  no  need  of 
a  Saviour  or  missionary  collections,  or  even  a  heaven  to 
get  into,  as  this  is  all  some  professors  live  for,  they 
say.  It  is  evident  they  do  not  love  to  help  others  into 
lieaven,  or  they  would  not  spend  from  $5  to  $50 
dollars  a  year  for  useless  or  injurious  things,  and  put 
off  the  missionary  cause  with  less  than  one-tenth,  as 
many  do."  Bishop  Flickinger  somewhere  wrote,  at 
one  time,  "In  my  living,  clothing,  traveling,  and  in  all, 
I  studied  economy ;  I  therefore  always  had  money  to 
pay  my  debts  and  to  give  to  benevolent  purposes, 
because  I  saved  it." 

As  the  success  of  the  African  mission  is  due,  in  the 


TWENTY-FIFTH  BISIIoP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  619 

main,  to  the  plans  and  labors  of  Bishop  Flickinger,  it 
may  not  be  out  of  place  in  this  connection  to  give  the 
opinion  of  a  disinterested  observer.  Hon.  Judson  A. 
Lewis  was  United  States  consul  at  Sierra  Leone,  during 
the  administration-  of  Hayes,  Garfield  and  Arthur. 
After  his  retirement  he  wrot<3  a  book  on  "  Missionaries 
and  Missions"  from  a  secular  standpoint.  In  this  book 
he  gives  us  an  account  of  Shengay  mission.  Among 
other  things  he  says :  "  In  this  way  the  secretary  and 
the  treasurer,  who  are  really  the  managing  men  of  the 
society  at  home,  have  familiarized  themselves  so  com- 
pletely with  the  work  of  the  mission  on  the  coast,  that 
they  know  just  what  its  wants  are.  Now  this  is  a  very 
important  item  and  probably  one  reason  why  the 
Shengay  mission  is  the  hest  managed  and  most  prosper- 
ous little  mission  known  to  the  writer  on  the  west 
coast.  The  managers  at  home  know  just  what  is  re- 
quired. The}'  don't  guess  at  anything,  for  they  have 
been  to  the  front  and  camped  out ;  they  have  eaten 
hard  tack,  and  slept  on  the  ground ;  the}"  have  seen  bat- 
tles and  helped  to  fight  them.  Hence  they  know  how 
to  comraaad  and  what  kind  of  soldiers  to  place  on 
guard. 

If  anything  goes  w^ong  or  new  stations  are  needed, 
requiring  the  services  of  a  good  man  to  engage  the 
chaps  in  much  'palaver,'  D.  K.  Flickinger  packs  his 
knapsack  and  the  first  you  know  he  is  on  his  way  to 
the  west  coast  of  Africa,  and  soon  you  see  him  bound- 
ing in,  knowing  just  what  he  wants,  and  how  and 
w^here  to  find  it.  Off  he  goes  in  his  boat,  up  and  down 
the  bays  and  rivers,  visiting  chiefs  and  head  men, 
day  and  night  on  the  rivers,  sleeping  in  his  boat  or  on 
shore,  as  the  case  may  be.     In   this  way  he  works  two 


(^20  DANIEL    KUMLEK    FLICKHSTGER, 

or  three  months,  and  accomplishes  the  object  for  which 
he  went  forth,  and  is  again  on  his  way  back  to  his 
post  and  people.  He  has  become  thoroughl}^  acquainted 
with  the  native  chiefs  and  their  people,  and  the}^  with 
him." 

Concerning  Mr.  Flickinger's  family, the  two  children 
of  his  first  wife  both  reside  in  Colmnbus,  Ohio.  Sam- 
uelJacob,  the  oldest,  was  born  in  1848.  He  is  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  Otterbein  University,  had  a  special  course  in 
Cornell  University,  New  York,  and  is  now  the  efficient 
editor  of  the  Ohio  State  Jouimal.  He  is  still  unmarried, 
and  in  politics  is  strongly  republican.  Under  his 
skillful  management  the  Journal  has  been  enlarged, 
the  circulation  has  been  increased  and  its  general  tone 
has  been  elevated. 

Daniel  Lintner  was  born  in  1852,  is  also  a  graduate 
of  Otterbein  Universit}^,  and  at  the  present  time  is  a 
prominent  clerk  in  the  Insurance  Department  of  Ohio. 
He  was  married  in  18YT  and  has  an  interesting  family 
of  children. 

Of  the  children  of  the  last  wife  the  oldest,  Mary  C, 
Avas  born  in  1857.  In  1877  she  was  united  in  marriage 
to  W.  L.  Todd,  of  Willoughby,  Ohio.  Mr.  Todd  was  an 
accomplished  and  enthusiastic  musician,  and  had  charge 
of  the  department  of  music  in  Otterbein  University  for 
a  number  of  years.  He  died  somewhat  unexpectedly 
in  the  summer  of  1887  while  spending  his  vacation  at 
Mr.  Flickinger's  residence  in  Willoughby.  His  son  Euah 
was  \Qrj  sick  at  the  same  time,  but  was  spared  a  few 
months  longer  and  then  taken,  and  Mrs.  Todd's  heart 
and  hearth  were  both  left  desolate. 

Sarah  Jane  was  born  in  1858,  and  in  1880  was  married 
to  C.  P.  Williams,  of  Marietta,  Ohio.     Mr.  Williams 


TWENTY-FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  621 

Avas  chief  clerk  in  the  school  commissioners  office  dur- 
ing the  administration  of  Hon.  Leroy  D.  Browne,  but  is 
now  in  business  in  Memphis,  Tenn. 

Nellie  Glossbrenner  was  born  in  1860.  She  is  a 
graduate  in  music,  and  quite  skillful  as  a  teacher  in 
this  department  of  work.  Since  the  death  of  Prof.  Todd 
she  has  had  charge  of  this  branch  of  study  in  Otterbein 
University.  Slie  is  a  lady  of  culture,  of  good  social  quali- 
ties, an  enthusiast  in  her  work,  and  very  popular  with  lier 
friends,  of  whom  she  has  a  large  number.  She  was  mar- 
ried, June  14,  to  Mr.  H.  H.  Myers,  of  New  London, 
Wis. 

Elmer  Ellsworth  was  born  in  1862.  He  graduated 
from  Otterbein  University,  and  afterward  completed  a 
course  in  medicine  in  Cleveland.  He  married  Miss 
Florence  Wilson,  of  Willoughby,  in  1884.  He  removed 
to  Emporia,  Kas.,  where  he  has  been  practicing  homoe- 
opathy ever  since. 

John  William  was  born  in  1864.  He  also  graduated 
from  Otterbein  University,  and  is  unmarried  and  con- 
nected with  the  reportorial  force  of  the  Ohio  State 
Journal. 

Charles  Henry  was  born  in  1868,  and  died  in  Wil- 
loughby, in  18Y7. 

Bishop  Flickinger  having  been  prevented  from  se- 
curing the  education  for  which  he  longed  when  a  boy,  de- 
termined that  his  children  should  not  be  so  unfortunate, 
and  has  therefore  spared  neither  pains  nor  money  in 
securing  for  each  of  them  a  good  education.  ISTot  only 
has  his  family  had  the  benefit  of  his  foresight  in  this  re- 
spect, but  in  the  church  of  his  choice  he  has  always  been 
among  the  foremost  to  push  forward  her  educational 
interests.     For  this  purpose  he  has  freely  given  of  his 


622  DANIEL    KUMI.ER    FLICKINGEB, 

mone}^,  his  time,  his  influence  and  his  energies.  For  a 
number  of  years  he  has  been  one  of  the  most  efficient 
trustees  of  Otterbein  University.  When  the  time  came 
to  make  an  effort  to  endow  the  universit}^,  Dr.  Davis  was 
asked  to  undertake  the  work.  He  had  rendered  similar 
service  before,  and  felt  now  asthough  the  load  should 
be  placed  upon  younger  shoulders.  Mr.  Flickingersaid 
to  him  to  come  to  Miami  Conference,  and  he  would  help 
him.  If  the  author  is  not  mistaken  he  kept  his  promise 
by  himself  giving  over  $1,000,  and  securing  among  his 
friends  enough  to  endow  one  chair  to  the  amount  of 
$5,000.  At  other  times  he  has  given  for  the  debt,  for 
literary  halls,  for  library  and  other  wants  of  the  in- 
stitution. 

He  was  just  as  earnest  and  anxious  a  worker  in  the 
interest  of  a  higher  theological  as  he  was  of  a  literary 
training.  When  it  seemed  best  to  open  Union  Biblical 
Seminary,  there  were  teachers,  but  no  students,  no 
buildings,  no  endowment.  Students  could  be  found,  a 
building  could  be  had  temporarily,  but  how  should 
these  teachers  be  paid  ?  An  agent  was  put  in  the  field 
to  secure  help.  Bishop  Glossbrenner,  who  for  certain 
reasons  had  become  interested  in  the  work,  said 
to  the  bishop :  "  Daniel,  you  must  go  with  me  to 
all  my  conferences  this  fall,  and  you  and  I  can  raise 
money  enough  to  run  the  seminary  for  two  years." 
The  outlook  was  not  very  liopeful  until  Mr.  Flickinger 
agreed  to  cooperate.  Subscriptions  were  taken  at  the 
conferences,  mostly  among  the  preachers,  to  be  paid  in 
two  annual  installmen-ts.  This  made  him  extra  work 
and  care  outside  of  his  official  duties,  and  for  a  time 
seriously  affected  his  health,  but  he  had  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  a  good  work  prosper  in  his  hands. 


TWENTY-FIFTH  BISHOP  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST.  (523 

Mr.  Flickin^er  earh^  saw  the  value  of  the  press  in 
church  work,  and  used  it  for  the  carrying  forward  of 
his  enterprises.  The  Missionary  Vislto?'  was  originated 
by  him,  and  for  twenty  3^ears  he  was  its  constant  editor. 
In  connection  with  this,  he  has  freely  used  the  Telescope 
to  keep  the  church  instructed  and  aroused.  From  the 
articles  which  appeared  there  from  his  own  pen,  one 
could  not  only  gather  the  facts  of  his  own  life,  but  the 
histor}'  of  the  missionary,  as  well  as  other  movements 
in  the  church.  From  1865  to  1881,  when  the  publish- 
ing house  was  making  an  effort  to  relieve  itself  of  debt, 
he  was  one  of  its  trustees,  and  to  his  persistence  and 
earnestness  and  fertilit}^  of  resources  is  due  not  a  little 
of  the  results  then  accomplished. 

As  a  writer  he  may  not  and  does  not  possess  all  the 
graces  of  the  finished  author.  The  best  thoughts  do 
not  come  at  random.  One  needs  time  and  quiet  and 
freedom  from  the  ])ressure  of  business,  that  the  best  ef- 
forts of  his  brain  may  be  put  into  "thoughts  that 
breathe  and  Avords  that  burn,"  and  Mr.  Flickinaer  has 
had  no  such  leisure.  He  has  laid  foundations  upon 
Avhich  other  men  are  to  build,  and  he  has  laid  them 
well.  Almost  every  editorial  written  or  article  con- 
tributed had  to  be  done  to  meet  a  present  emergenc3^ 
The  keen  business  sense  which  shows  itself  in  all  his 
work  appears  in  his  writings.  There  are  no  double 
meanings.  He  knows  what  he  wants  to  say,  and  one 
who  reads  knows  what  he  means.  He  gets  the  ear  of 
the  church,  and  the\^  know  what  he  wants. 

While  Mr.  Flickino-er's  work  has  been  raainlv  aloni^: 
missionary  lines,  there  is  hardly  a  department  of  churcli 
work  which  he  has  not  touched,  and  which  he  has  not 
helped.     When  the  history  of  the  growth  of  the  church 


624  DANIEL    Kl'MLEK    FLICKINGER. 

for  the  last  forty  years  shall  be  written,  it  v,' ill  be  found 
that  it  must  touch  him  at  a  number  of  points.  The  last 
letter  from  him  says  that  he  will  be  in  America  for 
three  months,  but  we  are  sure  they  will  be  ver}^  busy, 
active  months.  He  is  now  sixty-four  years  of  age,  and 
has  the  energy  and  fervor  of  a  young  man,  but  the 
cares  and  activities  of  life  have  left  their  impress  upon 
him.  The  e3^es  are  bright  and  full  of  cheer,  but  the 
hair  is  gray,  the  face  is  furrowed,  the  step  is  not  so 
elastic  as  usual,  but  the  love  for  the  heathen  is  as  strong 
as  ever.  He  will  never  rust  out,  and  we  are  not  sure 
that  he  will  ever  be  able  to  take  time  to  die.  We 
should  not  be  surprised  if,  with  the  cares  of  the  heathen 
upon  him,  as  he  goes  up  and  down  the  earth,  some  time 
the  chariot  of  Elijah  should  swoop  down  and  take  him 
home,  and  we  know  nothing  of  it  until  he  is  gone.  For 
the  sake  of  those  who  intimately  know  him,  and  for 
the  sake  of  the  church  which  he  has  served  so  long  and 
so  faithfully,  may  the  chariot  be  a  long  time  in  coming. 


APPENDIX. 


Statistics  for  1888. 


The  following  statistics,  which  are  taken  from  the  "United 
Brethren  Year  Book  "  for  1889,  will  be  of  special  value  to  all  mem. 
bers  of  the  United  Brethren  Church  : 

Organized  Churches 4,450 

Itinerants,        .  .        .        .        .        ,        .        1,490 

Local  Preachers, 560 

Members  at  end  of  Year, 204,517 

Increase  during  the  Year,           ....  9,239 

Number  of  Sunday-schools,           ....  3,509 

Scholars  in  Sunday-school  Enrollment,     .        .  219,846 

Teachers  and  Officers, 32,026 

Number  of  Church  Houses,       ....  2,609 

Number  of  Parsonages 439 

Local  Sunday-school  Collections,       .        .        .  $65,312 
General  Sunday-school  Fund  and  Children's  Day 

Collections 3,255 

Preachers'  Salaries, 474,590 

Church  Expenses, 366,258 

Bishops'  Collections, 6,182 

Preachers'  Aid 3,566 

Collected  for  General  Missions,          .        .        .  38,609 

Collected  Special  to  Missions,        ....  38,219 

Collected  Woman's  Missions.      ....  10,112 

Collected  Sunday  Schools  for  Missions,        .        .  4,191 

Total  Collected  for  Missions,      .         .        .        .  91,134 

Church  Erection  Fund, 1,964 

Educational  Beneficiary  Fund,    ....  1,249 
Colleges,  Academies  and  United  Brethren  Semi- 
nary   22,572 

Total  for  All  Purposes,  ....         1,036,086 

Value  of  Church  Houses,       ....        3,757,161 

Value  of  Parsonages, 401,959 

625 


626  APPENDIX. 

HISTORICAL     TABLES. 
GENERAL   OFFICERS.         « 
BISHOPS. 

1800-13,  William  Otterbein  (died  1813) ;  Martin  Boehm  (died  1812) ; 

George  A.  Geeting  (died  1812). 
1813-15,  Christian  Newcomer. 
1815-17,  Christian  Newcomer  and  Andrew  Zeller. 
1817-21,  Christian  Newcomer  and  Andrew  Zeller. 
1821-25,  Christian  Newcomer  and  Joseph  Hoffman. 
1825-39,  Christian  Newcomer  and  Henry  Kiimler,  Sr. 
1829-33,  Christian  Newcomer  (died  in  1830),  and  Henry  Kumler,  Sr. 
1833-37,  Henry  Kumler,  Sr.,  Samuel  Heistand  and  William  Brown. 
1837-41,  Henry  Kumler,   Sr.;  Samuel  Heistand  (died  1838),  and 

Jacob  Erb. 
1841-45,  Henry  Kumler,  Sr.,  Jacob  Erb,  Henry  Kumler,  Jr.,  and 

John  Coons. 
1845-49,  John  Russel,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner  and  William  Hanby. 
1849-53,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  Jacob  Erb  and  David  Edwards. 
1853-57,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  David  Edwards  and  Lewis  Davis. 
1857-61,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  David  Edwards,  Lewis  Davis  and  John 

Russel. 
1861-65,  J.   J.   Glossbrenner,  David  Edwards,  Jacob  Markwood, 

Daniel  Shuck  and  Henry  Kumler,  Jr. 
1865-69,  J.   J.    Glossbrenner,  David  Edwards,  Jacob  Markwood, 

Jonathan  Weaver  and  Daniel  Shuck. 
1869-73,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  David  Edwards,  Jonathan  Weaver  and 

John  Dickson. 
1873-77,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  David  Edwards  (died  1876),  Jonathan 

Weaver  and  John  Dickson. 
1877-81,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  Jonathan  Weaver,  John  Dickson,  Mil- 
ton Wright  and  Nicholas  Castle. 
1881-85,  J.   J.    Glossbrenner,    Jonathan   Weaver,   John    Dickson, 

Nicholas  Castle  and  E.  B.  Kephart. 
1885-89,  J.   J.    Glossbrenner,    Jonathan  Weaver,   John    Dickson, 

Nicholas  Castle,  E.  B.  Kephart,  Milton  Wright  and  D. 

K.  Flickinger. 


1889 


EDITORS  OP  THE   "  RELIGIOUS  TELESCOPE." 

Rev.  William  Rhinehart,       ....     1834  to  1839 
Rev.  William  Hanby 1889  to  1845 


APPENDIX. 


627 


Rev.  D.  Edwards, 
Rev.  William  Hanby, 

Assistant,  Rev.  John  Lawrence, 
Rev.  John  Lawrence, 

Rev.  D.  Berger 

Rev.  M.  Wright,         .... 
Rev.  M.  Wright  and  Rev.  W.  O.  Tobey, 
Rev.  J.  W.  Hott,        .... 

Assistants,  j  ^^^'  W-  ^-  Tobey,      . 
(  Rev.  M.  R.  Drury, 

AGENTS  OP  THE  PUBLISHING  HOUSE. 

Trustees  — John  Russel,  John  Dresbach  and 

George  Dresbach,    .... 
Rev.  William  Hanby,  editor  and  agent. 
Rev.  J.  Markwood  (did  not  serve), 
Rev.  N.  Altman,         .... 
Rev.  William  Hanby,    .... 
Rev.  S.  Vonneida,      .... 

Assistants,  i  ^^''-  ^  Kumler,  Jr., 
<  T.  N.  Sowers, 
T,  N.  Sowers  and  J.  B.  King,    .      '  . 
T.  N.  Sowers  and  Rev.  W.  J.  Shuey, 
Rev.  W.  J.  Shuey  and  Rev.  Wm.  McKee, 
Rev.  W.  J.  Shuey,         .... 


1845  to  1849 

1849  to  1852 

1850  to  1852 
1852  to  1864 
1864  to  1869 
1869  to  1873 
1873  to  1877 

1877  to  

1877  to  1881 
1881  to  


1834  to 
1839  to 
1845  to 
1845  to 

1852  to 

1853  to 

1854  to 

1855  to 
1861  to 

1864  to 

1865  to 

1866  to 


1839 

1845 

1852 
1853 
1861 

1861 
1864 
1865 
1866 


EDITORS  OF   SABBATH-SCHOOL   PERIODICALS. 

Rev.  D.  Edwards, 1854  to  1857 

Rev.  S.  Vonneida, 1857  to  1869 

Rev.  D.  Berger, 1869  to  1885 

Rev.  J.  P.  Landis  (resigned),    .        .        .        1885  to 

Rev.  D.  Berger, 1885  to 

EDITOR  OF    "woman's  EVANGEL." 

Mrs.  L.  R.  Keister,  A.  M 1881  to 

EDITORS  OP  GERMAN  PAPERS. 

Rev.  Jacob  Erb,     .        .        .        ,        .        .  i841  to  1842 

Rev.  N.  Altman, 1846  to  1847 

Rev.  D.  Strickler, 1847  to  185J 

Rev.  Henry  Staub, 1851  to  1858 

Rev.  S.  Vonneida,      • 1859  to  1866 


628 


APPENDIX 


Rev.  Ezekiel  Light, 1866  to  1869 

Rev.  William  Mittendorf ,  ...  1869  to  1885 
Rev.  Ezekiel  Light 18d5  to  

CIRCUI^ATION   OP  PERIODICALS  FOR   1888. 

"  Religious  Telescope,"      ....  13,345 

"Children's  Friend,"      ....  37,250 

"  Missionary  Visitor,"         ....  32,450 

"Lessons  for  the  Little  Ones,"      .        .  43,950 

"Bible  Teacher,"        .....  5,016 

"Large  Quarterly,"         ....  98,250 

"  International  Quarterly,"         .        .        .  45,750 

"Jugend  Pilger," 2,653 

"  Froeliche  Botschafter,"        .        .        .  1,212 

"  Woman's  Evangel,"         ....  2,700 

EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS. 

Otterbein  University,  Westerville,  Ohio.  .  Founded  1847 
Hartsville  College,  Hartsville,  Ind.  .  Founded  1852 
Western  College,  Toledo,  Iowa.  .  .  Founded  1856 
Lane  University,  Lecompton,  Kas.  .  Founded  1865 
Philomath  College,' Philomath,  Ore.  .     Founded  1865 

Westfield  College,  Westfield,  111.  .  .  Founded  1865 
Lebanon  Valley  College,  Annville,  Pa.  .  Founded  1867 
Avalon  College,  Avalon,  Mo.   Academy, 

1869.     College Founded  1881 

San  Joaquin  Valley  College.  Woodbridge, 

Cal Founded  1878 

Roanoke  Academy,  Roanoke,  Ind.  .  Founded  1867 
Edvrards  Academy,  White  Pine,  Tenn.  .  Founded  1877 
Shenandoah  Institute,  Dayton,  Va.  .  Founded  1877 
Washington  Seminary,  Huntsville,  W.  T.  .  Founded  1880 
WestVirginiaAcademy,Buckhannon,W.Va.  Founded  1882 
Erie  Conference  Seminary,  Sugar  Grove,  Pa.  Founded  1884 
Gibbon  Collegiate  Institute,  Gibbon,  Neb.  Founded  1886 
Union  Biblical  Seminary,  Dayton,  Ohio.    .    Founded  1871 


COMPARATIVE   STATISTICS   OF   THE   UNITED 
BRETHREN    IN  CHRIST,   1813--1; 


CO 

es 
>> 

11 

00 

c 

es 
a> 

2 

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Cfi 

2 

a 

0 
0 

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at 

a 

3 

„  0 

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^  a 

si 

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Oo 

♦1813 

10,000 
9,000 
20,000 
30,000 
40,000 
47,000 
61,399 
94.453 
89,811 
91,.57() 
97,983 
108, 12i 
108,965 
118,0,^5 
120,445 
125,464 
137  .tT.I 

*1820 

*1835 

....    . 

*1845 

*1850 



♦1853 

2^6i6 
3,900 
4,630 
3,297 
3,415 
3,663 

3,924 
3,912 
3,983 
3,874 
3,959 
4,010 
4,078 
4,067 
4,187 
4,356 
4,524 
4,400 
4,463 
4,292 
4,308 
4,335 
4,.332 
4,396 
4,450 

"469 
499 

'417 

417 

'  916 
916 

185T 

1,009 
1,513 
1,906 
1,775 
2,042 
2,268 

]8()1 

1865 

68,171 

80,957 
94,180 
106,002 



9,928 
12,5.56 
14,003 
16,057 

78,099 
93,513 
108,183 
132,059 

1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 

789 
837 
864 

"881 
967 
870 

755 
770 

783 

"753 
742 
831 

1,544 
1,607 
1,647 

i,634 
1,709 
1,701 
1,822 

9,309 
9,508 
8,957 

1870 
1871 

2,420 
3,519 
3,610 
2,739 
2,644 
2.718 

113,425 

16,417 

128,842 
135,954 

9,204 

1872 
1873 

144,870 
157,197 
148,691 
160,931 
163,439 
169,.530 
177,:512 

187i 

l,886i    131,8.59 
i,967|    136,076 
1,953    14:3,881 
2,059    148,763 
2,153    152.331 

1875 

1876 

2,854 
2,897 
3,060 

1877 

1878 

153,1.59 

24,153 
27,278 
26,819 
26.520 
35,690 
26,40;i 
27,:377 
26,787 
2S,547 
:30,051 
33.026 

. 

1879 
1880 
1881 
1883 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 

' 1,235 
1,2.57 
1,246 
l,3^t) 
],34« 
1,378 
1,566 
1,490 

■7.56 
963 
928 
89+ 
90.j 
S9U 
589 
560 

2,317 
2,196 
l,9a5 
2.220 
2,174 
2,230 
3,  •,'.">:{ 
2,268 
2,155 
2,050 

154,796 
157.835 
157.712 
1.59,547 
161,838 
lti(i,333 
173,-65 
IS-..  103 
195,278 
204,517 

3,268 
3,04:3 
3.21H 
3.180 
3.201 
3,228 
3,169 
3,169 
3,478 
3,509 

1.59.935 
1.59,141 
158,319 
ia5,743 
163,513 
167,645 
167,971 
179,739 
206,088 
219,846 

187,203 
185,960 
184,839 
191,433 
189,915 
195,022 
194,7.58 
208,376 
3:36,139 
251,873 

3,796 
4,465 
5,633 
.5,175 
5,:i98 
8,073 
8,244 

9,674 

13.413 
12,251 

12,659 
11,907 

i'3',786 
13,345 

*  Estimated. 


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1,248 
1,173 
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6,073.31 
14,935.51 
17,961.83 
19,&54.54 
17,133.53 
13,713  90 
10,354.93 
1,390.85 
30,883.36 
;36,684.45 
36,450.51 
37,183.4<i 
29,480.41 
30,036.90 
38,630.30 
37,872.99 
23,373.18 

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$1,244.40 
1,110.73 
1,477.78 
1,752.71 
1,735.14 
1,306.38 
1,339.11 
1,374.97 
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$1,797.38 
1,624.31 
1,773.36 
3.255.37 
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3,916.43 

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$999.02 
1,956.14 
3,085.26 
1,998.44 
1,787.39 
1,584.38 
1,397.14 
1,335.81 
1,531.62 
1,646.86 
1,581.47 
1,741.56 
1,783.93 
1,744.81 
1,581.83 
1.794.93 
3,004.84 
3,355 . 75 

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